Biennial report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of North Carolina to Governor ..., for the scholastic years ... |
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aJa X H s aa S O BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION OF yyitA ^omfilimentA oJ /fJ^T"^ ^'ufienintetnlent <i^ &u6iii} i^ndtKuctfon RALEIGH EDWARDS & BROUGHTON PRINTING COMPANV STATE PRINTERS AND B'NDERS a . J > S % o g a <! a -J S O 5« BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION OF NORTH CAROLINA FOR THE SCHOLASTIC YEARS 1912-1913 AND 1913-1914 RALEIGH EDWARDS & BROUGHTON PRINTING COMr»ANV STATE PRINTERS AND B'NDCRS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. J. Y. JoYNER Superintendent of Public Instruction C. E. MclNTOSH Chief Clerk A. S. Brower Statistical Secretary, Clerk of Loan Fund E. E. Sams Supervisor of Teacher Training N. W. Walker State Inspector of High Schools L. C. Brogden State Agent Rural Schools N. C. Newbold State Agent Rural Schools T. E. Browne Agent Agricultural Extension Miss Annie Travis Stenographer STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION. Locke Craig Governor, President J. Y. JoYNER Superintendent Public Instruction, Secretary E. L. Daughtridge Lieutenant Governor J. Bryan Grimes Secretary of State B. R. Lacy State Treasurer W. P. Wood State Auditor T. W. BicKETT Attorney General STATE BOARD OF EXAMINERS. J. Y. Joyner Chairman ex officio C. E. MclNTOSH Secretary, Raleigh H. E. Austin Greenville N. W. Walker Chapel Hill Wm. a. Graham Warrenton Z. V. JuDD Chapel Hill LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL State of North Carolina, Department of Public Instruction, Raleigh, December 10, 1914. To His Excellency, Locke Craig Governor of North Carolina. Dear Sir:—According to section 4090 of The Revisal of 1905 I have the honor to transmit my Biennial Report for the scholastic years 1912-13 and 1913-14 Very Truly yours, J. Y. JoYNiai, Superintendent of Public Instruction. 59G iO TABLE OF CONTENTS. PART I. Summary in Brief Outline of Two Years' Progress in Education. Recommendations. Work to Be Done and How to Do It. Statistical Summary of Two Years' Progress. PART II. Statistics for 1912-13. Statistics for 1913-14. PART III. Report of State Inspector of Public Higti Schools, 1912-13. Report of State Inspector of Public High Schools, 1913-14. Report of Supervisor of Teacher-training. Report of State Agent Rural Schools. Report of State Agent Rural Schools. Report of Colored Normal Schools, 1912-1913 and 1913-1914. Report of Peabody Rural Supervision Fund. Circular Letters of State Superintendent. PART I. SUMMARY AND BRIEF OUTLINE OF TWO YEARS' PROGRESS IN EDUCATION. RECOMMENDATIONS. WORK TO BE DONE AND HOW TO DO IT. STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF TWO YEARS' PROGRESS. SUMMARY AND BRIEF OUTLINE OF TWO YEARS' PROGRESS IN EDUCATION. The following summary and brief outline of the progress in education for the biennial period beginning July 1, 1912 and ending June 30, 1914, is based on the official reports on file in the office of the Superintendent of Public In-struction, and can be verified in detail by the published statistical reports oi this biennial period. Increase in School Funds.—The total available school fund for the year end-ing June 30, 1914, was $6,119,602.72. This is an increase of $1,630,850.15 over the total available school fund for 1912. Of this total available school fund for 1914 $3,267,613.89 was raised by State and county taxation and appropria-tion, and $1,367,948.65 was raised by local taxation in special tax districts, of which $823,366.17 was raised in urban districts, and $544,582.48 in rural dis-tricts. This is an increase in 1914 over 1912 of $34,803.21 in the amount raised by local taxation in rural districts and $153,378.76 raised by local taxation in urban districts. Of the total available school fund for 1914 $4,012,488.86 was the rural school fund and $2,107,113.86 the urban school fund. In percentage there has been an increase of seven percent in the funds raised by local taxation in the rural districts, and 23 per cent in the funds raised by local taxation in urban dis-tricts, and 30 per cent in the annual available fund raised by general Stale and county taxation and appropriation in 1914 over 1912. Excluding bonds, loans, State appropriations and the balance from the pre-vious year, the whole amount raised by county and local district taxation for public schools during 1914 was $4,006,779.51 an increase of $610,047.17 over 1912. The increase in the rural funds raised by taxation In 1914 over 1912 was $353,683.00, the city increase was $256,364.17. These figures show that during 1914 $7.87 was raised for each child of school age enumerated in our State School Census; $6.39 for each child outside the cities and towns, and $14.03 within the cities and towns. This was a per capita increase in 1914 over 1912 of $1.62 for each country child of school age, and $3.04 for each city child of school age. TJiese comparisons are made between the last year of this biennial period, 1914, and the last year of the preceeding bienial period, 1912, so as to indicate the progress of the period. The figures for the year 1913 and the relative pro-gress of 1914 over 1913 can easily be ascertained from the published statis-tical reports found elsewhere in this report. For What the Money Was Spent.—With this increase in available funds for educational purposes, there has been during the period a corresponding ir-crease in those things which can be provided only by increased funds. There has been an increase of $1,013,456.02 in the value of rural school property, and $684,651.25 in the value of urban school property, making a total in-crease of $1,698,087.27 in the total value of the public school property of the State. There has been expended during the period $1,611,048.41 in building, improving and equipping public school houses. Eight hundred and ten new rural schoolhouses have been built at an average cost of $840.45. There has 8 Two Years' Pkogkess been an increase of 643 in the number of rural schoolhouses equipped with patent desks, and $139,548.81 has been expended during the biennial period for furniture for rural schoolhouses, and $54,232.41 for furniture for urban schools. Eleven and one-half days have been added to the average annual school term of white schools of the State, and 17 days to the average annual school term of the colored schools of the State, 17.8 days to the white rural school term and 19.3 days to colored rural school term. In newly established local tax districts of course, the school term has been greatly lengthened and in many instances doubled. There has been an increase of 1,065 in the number of white teachers employed, and 275 in the number of col-ored teachers employed. There has been an increase in the average an-nual salary of white teachers of $51.91 and 33.97 in the average annual salary of colored teachers. The average annual salary of rural school teachers has been increased $47.40. There has been a necessary increase in the expense of collecting, expending and administering a larger fund, and an increase in the current expenses for longer terms with more schoolrooms and teachers. The total expenditures for all schools during 1914 was $5,566,992.89, which represents an increase of $1,488,872.85 over 1912, an increase of $9] 8,518.54 in rural expenditures, and $570,354.31 in city expenditures. Of this increase rural teachers and superintendents received $694,597.71, and urban teachers and superintendents received $206,013.49. The increased expenditures for administration, including treasurers' commissions, the expenses of boards of education, school committeemen, and taking census, was $56,838.45 for rural schools and a decrease of $2,852.26 for city schools. The increase in the expenditures for all other purposes, including overcharges arising from overestimates of poll tax, errors in treasurer's commissions, etc., borrowed money for building repaid, etc.; repaid out of collected taxes was $206,645.87. The expenditures for public high schools showed a reasonable increase. In this report the expenditures for high schools have been included with the other rural school expenditures and will not be found listed separately as heretofore. A detailed report of the high school expenditures will be found elsewhere in the report of the State Inspctor of Public High Schools. An increase in the amounts spent for buildings and supplies is shown in 1914 over 1912 of $496,449.10. Taking collectively the gain in the expenditures under each head, there was a net increase in the expenditures for the State for public schools of $1,488,872.85 for 1914 over 1912. This shows a gain in the expenditures for schools of about 30 per cent. Increase in Value of School Property.—In 1914 the total value of school property of the State was $9,078,703.27. Of this amount the value of rural school property was $5,030,710.02 and the value of city school property was $4,047,993.25. This is an increase in 1914 over 1912 of $1,698,087.27 in the to-tal value of all school property of which $1,013,456.02 is the increase in the value of rural school property and $684,631.25 the increase in the value of city school property. The value of white school property in 1914 was $8,056,966.34 of which $4,470,892.25 was rural and $3,586,074.09 was urban. The percent-age of increase in the value of school property during the biennial period was 23 per cent, 25 per cent rural and 20 per cent urban. In 1914 there were 7928 school houses in the State—7,619 rural and 309 urban, 5,356 rural white and 199 urban white, 2,263 rural colored and 110 urban colored. The average value of each rural white schoolhouse was Two Years' Progress 9 $851.55, the average value of each city white schoolhouse was $18,020.47, the average value of each rural colored schoolhouse was $247.38, the average value of each city colored schoolhouse was $4,199.27. There has been an in-crease of $178.83 in the average value of each rural white schoolhouse and $41.96 in the average value of each colored rural schoolhouse in 1914 over 1912. During the biennial period $784,619.87 was spent for white rural school buildings and sites and $498,028.60 was spent for white urban school build-ings and sites. $82,272.65 was spent for colored rural school buildings and $53,346.27 was spent for urban colored school buildings. Taken collectively this means that $910,124.41 was spent for rural school buildings and sites and $551,374.87 was spent for urban school buildings and sites. Neiv Schoolhouses Built.—During the biennial period 810 new rural school-houses have been built—606 white and 204 colored, at a cost of $811,407.77. This means an average of more than one rural schoolhouse for every day in the year and including the city schoolhouses built the average runs considerably over one per day. This pace of building at least one new schoolhouse for every day in the year according to approved plans of modern school architec-ture prepared by most competent architects under the supervision of the State Department of Education and distributed from the office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, has been maintained for the past twelve years—a total of 4,475 new schoolhouses having been built during this time—in 4,383 days. This also means that three-fifths of all the schoolhouses in this State have been built anew or rebuilt within the last twelve years. Improvement of School Furniture and Equipment.—During the biennial pe-riod $313,487.39 has been spent for school furniture and necessary equipment, an increase of $70,113.00 in the expenditures for this purpose over the pre-ceding biennial period. In 1914 there were 3,446 rural schoolhouses equipped with modern school furniture—3,049 white and 397 colored—an increase of 507 white and 136 colored over 1912, 3,082 rural schoolhouses were reported furnished with home-made desks—1,860 white and 1,222 colored. Increase in Local Tax Districts and Funds Raised by Local Taxation.— During the biennial period 190 local tax districts have been established by voluntary vote of the people in rural communities and small towns, an aver-age of nearly two districts per week for each week in the two school years. This made a total of 1,629 districts in the State at the end of the school year. In 1914 $1,367,948.65, about 22 per cent of the entire school fund of this State, was raised by a local taxation, $545,582.48 in rural districts and $823,366.17 in urban districts. All the counties of the State now have from one to 61 lo-cal tax districts each, levying special taxes therein to supplement their appor-tionment from the State and county funds for longer terms, better school-houses and equipment, better teachers paid better salaries and for better schools. Increased Attendance and Lengthening of School Term.—As a result of the operation of the Compulsory Attendance Law and the law setting aside five cents of the total State tax levy on every hundred dollars of property for the creation of the State Equalizing School Fund for the lengthening of the school term in every school district exclusive of all local taxation to a mini-mum of six months or as near thereto as said Equalizing Fund will provide, requiring all counties to provide first out of their own school funds a mini-mum school term in each district of at least four months and to levy a special tax to a maximum of 15 cents on the hundred dollars for the purpose wher- 10 Two Yeaks' Progress ever necessary in order to participate in this fund, there has been an unprece-dented increase of 11.6 per cent in the average daily attendance and a length-ening of the school term to a minimum of 103.3 days or five months and nearly a week in every public school district in North Carolina and to an average public school term of 122 days for the entire State. This is the largest increase in enrollment and attendance and in length of public school term during any one year in the history of North Carolina or perhaps in the history of any other State in the South. It will be remembered that these laws were passed by the General Assembly of 1913 in response to the univer-sal demand of the people of the State upon their Representatives and that 1913-14 was the first year of their operation. The increase in the school census in 1914 over 1912 was 15,676—9,018 white and 5,958 colored. The increase in the school enrollment was 74,140—36,498 white and 37,646 colored. The increase in average daily attendance was 75,918—46,036 white and 29,882 colored. These figures indicate the most re-markable increase in the enrollment and average daily attendance in the history of the State. In 1914 the average length of school term in white rural schools was 115.5 days, in the city, white schools 166.5 days, in all white schools of the State 124.22 days, in the rural colored schools 104 days, and in the city colored schools 167 days. This is an increase in 1914 over 1912 in the average term of the rural white schools of 17.8 days, and an increase in the rural colored schools of 19.3 days. The increase in the term of all rural schools therefore was 18.5 days. There was a slight decrease in the length of the term of the city schools, due to smaller schools with shorter terms receiving charters. These short term schools of course bring down the general average of the city schools somewhat. As stated above there has been an increase in the number of teachers em-ployed— white and colored. Improvement in Teachers' Institutes and Other Facilities for Teacher-training.— Under amendments to the school law by the General Assembly of 1909 a two-weeks teachers' Institute was made mandatory in every county biennially. Teachers' institutes were held in twenty-nine counties in 1913 and in sixty-four counties in 1914. Special arrangements were made in Durham, Chowan, Guilford, Orange, Pitt, Wake and Watauga for the training of the teachers in summer schools or otherwise to take the place of institute work. With the aid of the Supervisor of Teacher-training, also made possible bj'^ an amendment to the law in 1909, the work of the county teachers' institutes and the county teachers' associations has been organized and systematized, and through teachers' reading circles, a valuable course for home study and home training for the professional improvement of the rank and file of the teachers is being successfully conducted. Teachers' associations, holding monthly meetings, are in successful operation in more than ninety counties. Most of these associations have also organized teachers' reading circles for pursuing the prescribed course of professional reading. A trained man and a trained woman have been appointed to conduct each of these county teachers' institutes. All institute workers have been required to attend a conference of three or four days with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Supervisor of Teacher-training, for the discus-sion of their work and the arrangement of uniform and definite plans of work before beginning the institutes, and have been furnished with bulletins con- Two Years' Progress 11 taining definite outlines and approved suggestions for the work of the insti-tutes. Under this plan there has been marked progress in the organization and the direction of this institute work. It has been uniform, practical, and progressive, with more teaching and demonstration and less lecturing, with more emphasis on the essential subjects and less on the frills. The reports received from these institutes have been the most encouraging ever received by the State Superintendent. They have been more largely at-tended and the teachers have been more interested and benefitted than ever before. A fuller report of this institute and teacher-training work, by the Supervisor of Teacher-training, is printed elsewhere in this report. An at-tempt has been made, with encouraging success, to correlate and coordinate the work of these agencies for home study and professional improvement of teachers—the teachers' institute, the county teachers' association and reading circles, to plan the work so as to make it more progressive and continuous from year to year. North Carolina Education, our offlcial State teachers' journal, is heartily cooperating and rendering valuable assistance in carrying on this work. Improvement in County Siipervision.—There has been an increase in the number of county superintendents giving their entire time to the work of supervision and an increase in the time devoted to their work by nearly all the superintendents. Seventy-one county superintendents, an increase of twenty during this biennial period, now devote their entire time to the work. The county superintendents are thoroughly organized into State and district associations, holding annual meetings for the discussion with each other and with the State Superintendent of their common problems, for an exchange of views and experiences, for mutual counsel and advice and for forming plans for carrying on more uniformly and successfully the great work of educating all the people in the schools for all the people. It has seemed to me that dur-ing this biennial period the county superintendents have shown an unusual improvement in the efficient and intelligent discharge of their duties and that on the whole they have manifested a fine spirit of loyalty and devotion to their work. Much progress has been made in the organization, training, and directing of their teaching force and in systematization, classification and gradation of the work in the rural schools. Improvement in County Supervision.—As will appear elsewhere from the reports of Mr. Brogden and Mr. Newbold, the State Agents for Rural Schools, there has been during the year marked progress in a number of counties in closer and more efficient supervision of rural schools. At least ten counties employed during the year competent, trained women to assist in the supervi-sion of their rural schools. Progress in Rural Public High Schools.—During the biennial period 12 new public high schools have been established, making a total of 212 such schools in 96 counties of the State. There are, therefore, only four counties that do not have one or more of these schools. The annual State appropria-tion for their maintenance was increased $25,000 in 1911, making the total annual State appropriation for them $75,000. During the biennial period $417,358.64 has been expended for the ipaintenance of these schools. The total enrollment of country boys and girls in them was 7,946 in 1913 and 8,316 in 1914, a total of 16,262 for the biennial period—7,869 boys and 8,393 girls. This is an increase of 2,357 in the total enrollment of 1914 over that of 1912, an increase of 18 per cent in enrollment. There has been an 12 Two Years' Pkogkess average daily attendance of 5,921 in 1913 and 6,307 in 1914. The percentage of enrollment in average daily attendance for the past two years has been 75 per cent. In connection with some of these high schools, dormitories have been built and equipped, in which high school students may secure board at the actual cost and pay for it in money or in provisions at the market price. These figures show an encouraging increase in enrollment and attendance upon these public high schools, indicating a commendable growth in public sentiment among the rural population for high school education, for the ele-vation of the average of intelligence, and for better preparation for citizen-ship and service. A fuller report of these public high schools, prepared by the State Inspector of Public High Schools, is printed in another section of this report. Increase in Rural Libraries.—During the biennial period 501 new libraries have been established costing approximately $15,030.00, containing an average of about eighty-six volumes each of well selected books which are lent to the pupils of rural communities for their use; 347 new suppemen-tal libraries have been added to the libraries formerly established, costing $5,- 200.00, and adding about thirty-five books to each of these original libraries. The total number of rural libraries in the State at the close of the biennial pe-ried was 3,609, the total number of supplemental libraries 1,525. Almost one-half of all the school districts in the State, white and colored, are now pro-vided with rural libraries. Loan Fund for Building Schoolhouses.—During the biennial period the total amount of new loans made from the State loan fund for building and improving public schoolhouses was $207,447.00, an increase of $42,152.00 ov3r the preceding biennial period, to seventy-nine counties for building and im-proving houses valued at $674,842.00. The total amount of loans made from this loan fund since its establishment in 1903 aggregates $896,022.50 to ninety-eight counties for building and improving 1,531 houses valued at $2,411,500.00. This means that about one-fifth of all the schoolhouses in the State have been built or enlarged by the aid of this fund. This fund continues to be of incalculable service in building and improving public schoolhouses; the loans from it often make possible at once much needed new houses where they would not otherwise be possible without closing the schools and using the entire apportionment for one or more years for building. A timely loan from this fund also often means to a district the difference between a poor cheap house and a good properly constructed one. By the method of extending the payments over a period of ten years and charging such a small rate of interest a district can' take care of the repay-ment of a loan from this fund without seriously hampering the efficiency of the school, or materially shortening the school term. Loans from this fund are made only for houses constructed in accordance with plans approved by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the plans for any house not constructed in accordance with one of the plans issued by the State Department must be submitted to the State Superintendent for his approval before the application will be filed or the loan made. A fuller and more de-tailed report of the loan fund will be found elsewhere in this report. Boys' Corn Club, Girls' Tomato Clubs, An Increased Interest in Agricultural Instruction.—With the aid of Prof. T. E. Browne, agent for Agricultural Ex-tension Work, Mrs. Jane McKimmon, agent in charge Girls' Demonstration Two Years' Progress 13 Work, and with the active cooperation of the county superintendents and teachers, boys' corn clubs and girls' tomato clubs have been organized in many counties of the State. The reports of Prof. Browne and Mrs. McKimmon below give a full account of this division of the work. Hon. J. Y. Joyner, Superintendent of Public Instruction of North Carolina. Dear Sir:—I beg lief to submit a report of the work conducted from the office of Extension, A. and M. College, for the biennial period ending December 1st, 1914. It is not practical for us to use the same time limits in the biennial period as tliose in used in the State Department of Education, because of the fact that reports from the boys cannot be secured until after harvest. This report is to deal primarily with the Boys' Corn Club work and work with the rural schools, especially the schools in which agriculture is being taught. Since the last bienial report the Canning Club work has been placed under the direct management of Mrs. Jane S. McKimmon. Under a recent arrangement with the Washington office the Corn Club work has been put under the same general direction as the Farm Demonstration work with Mr. C. R. Hudson as State agent, Mr. T. E. Browne, assistant in charge of Club work and Mr. A. K. Robertson, assistant in Boys' Corn Clubs. It is with pleasure that I am able to report some progress in the Club work. In 1913 the number of boys enrolled was 2,276 in 86 counties. Of this number 670 made reports. These 670 boys made an average yield of 62.4 bush-els per acre, in spite of the fact that on September 3rd the State was visited by one of the most destructive storms in its history. Not taking into consid-eration the large number of boys who grew corn and did not report, the 670 boys reporting added to the corn yield of the State 41,816.9 bushels. This corn cost the boys $15,464.37. Figuring the corn at $1.00 per bushel, we find the boys added to the material wealth of the State the net amount of $26,- 352.53, and the cost of conducting the work did not exceed $6,000.00. We are of the opinion that from a purely monetary standpoint it was a good invest-ment for the State. We feel that the work has a far greater value in increasing the interest of the boys in scientific agriculture, in giving the boys in our rural districts a greater faith in themselves and the soil, and in inspiring them with a desire to do greater things in life. The Club work has a further value in teaching the boys to be "business farmers" by requiring them to keep an accurate account of all expenses in-curred in growing the corn. We count 30 per cent for the best business show-ing for the year's work. We also believe that by requiring the boys to write a short history of how they grew their corn, and allowing this to count 20 per cent on their final record it can be made a very vital part of the composition work in the schools. It has been the policy of the writer to keep the boys informed on the main points in the production of corn by sending to them each month a letter ex-plaining the work to be done at that particular time. These monthly letters have served to keep up the interest of the boys as well as to give them very important information at the time it was most needed. TThe enrollment for 1914 has been very encouraging. We made a special ap-peal through the teachers and the Farm Demonstration agents, who are now required to give this work their personal supervision, and as a result we have doubled the enrollment for 1914, there being now 4,540 boys on our roll. These boys are distributed over ninety-seven counties, Wake having the larg-est enrollment with Wilkes a close second. Of the 4,540 boys enrolled in 1914 Corn Club, 964 have sent their final report. These 964 boys made an average yield of 58.1 bushels per acre, at a cost of 461/2 cents per bushel. The boys made a total yield of 56,073.35 bush-els of corn at a total cost of $26,106.50. Valuing this corn at $1 per bushel and deducting the expense from the total value, the boys have added to the wealth of the State this year $29,966.85. A much larger number of boys would have reported but for the long summer drought. During the summer of 1913 Prof. I. O. Schaub resigned his position as Pro-fessor of Extension in Charge of Club Work and T. E. Browne was elected to 14 Two Years' Progress the vacancy. The present incumbent took charge of the office September 1, 1913. We are endeavoring more and more to connect the Club work with the school work of the State, to make it a laboratory where the principles of agri-culture taught in the school room may be vitalized by putting them to practical use on these contest acres. The hearty cooperation of the County Superin-tendents of Public Instruction and public school teachers is highly appreciated, because the writer realizes more and more that the success of this movement is in direct proportion to the interest and cooperation manifested by the rural school teachers. The following quotation is taken from the Boys' Corn Club Hand-Book pre-pared by the undersigned and published as circular No. 17 by the State Ex-periment Station: HOW TEACHERS CAN HELP. "Without the cooperation and aid of the rural school teachers, the strong efficient organization of the Boys' Corn Clubs could never have been effected. They have been very kind in presenting this work in their schools and sending the names of boys to the office for enrollment. Without the teacher the management cannot get in touch with these farmer boys, most of whom are in school some time during the winter months. A number of live, pro-gressive teachers are doing yeoman service in their respective districts with results, of which any one should be justly proud. "The teachers and school authorities of the State are earnestly requested, by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, to co-operate in this great ' work and help the management enroll the farmer boys. The rural school, with the school garden or school farm, should be made the community center around which all the club work revolves." The Extension Division of the College and Experiment Station is desirous of making itself more useful to the schools of the State, especially the Farm Life schools. The Division stands ready to help any of the schools to estab-lish a course in Agriculture, or render any assistance it can to those already teaching agriculture. The Corn Club work is still being carried on through the cooperation of the National Department of Agriculture, the State Department of Agriculture and Experiment Station, and the A. & M. College, and State Department of Education. The outlook for 1915 is very encouraging, and already the en-rollment is growing rapidly. Respectfully submitted, T. E. Browne, Superintendent of Agricultural Extension, in Charge of Boys' Corn Club Work. Report of Canning Clubs of North Carolina, December, 1913, to December, 1914. Jane S. McKimmon, State Agent. There were organized in North Carolina for Canning Club work from Decem-ber, 1913, to December, 1914, 32 counties, with an enrollment of 1500 mem-bers, an increase of 18 counties and 1100 members over the previous year. These members are divided into 144 clubs with 78 supervisors. Each county has its chief agent, and where there are many clubs in a county this agent has sub-agents to assist in supervising members and getting standards during the canning season. In two widely organized counties we have as many as eight agents each; in others, five or less. Thirty of the counties have sent in to me their reports for the year which state that 209,686 No. 3 tin cans, and 49,405 glass jars of tomatoes, string beans, peaches, berries and all other edible products of the farm have been produced. Total value $35,361.50 Cost 9,425.76 Profit 25,935.74 Average cost per member 11.44 Average profit per member 31.82 Two Years' Progress 15 One club of fifteen members, supervised by Mrs. Ross of Alamance County, put up 10,682 No. 3 tin cans, 1,640 glass jars, and 100 gallons of vinegar, and sold fresh $55 worth of vegetables. These things represent $1,563 in cash values, cost $360, profits $1,196, or $86.40 profit per girl. One hundred per cent of the members enrolled in this club reported the work done. Mrs. Lamb of Sampson county, a county just started in the work last spring, reports a club of nine members filling 5,975 No. 3 tin cans, and 102 glass jars with vegetables, fruits and juices, selling fresh $2 worth of vegetables. Total money value $625.00 Cost 162.00 Profit 463.00 Profit per member 51.45 Eighty-two per cent of the members enrolled reported. We have many other clubs making almost as good records. Alamance County, which has been in the work three years, reports the greatest number of cans and jars filled. Number filled 55,165 Sold fresh 226.25 Money value $7,039.65 Cost 1,77.1.25 Profits 5,268.45 Seventy-five per cent of the members enrolled in this county reported. Miss Edna Reinhardt, who has seven sub-agents as assistants, is the chief agent in this county. Anson County, with Mrs. Redfearn as chief agent, as-sisted by three supervisors, produced in tin and glass jars 38,540 Sold fresh $ 162.16 Money value 5,016.20 Cost 1,531.80 Profits $3,884.40 This county has an enrollment of 63 girls, and of these 60, or 96 per cent re-ported. They have done remarkable work in glass, sending several hundred dollars worth of shipments north. Austin Nichols, one of the largest whole-sale fancy grocers in the United States, has ordered a car load of preserves from picked girls under Mrs. Redfearn's supervision after seeing a display of their beautiful packs. Mrs. Capehart of Granville, and Mrs. Bayne of Cumberland County, have also had their selected girls do beautiful glass packs for the northern markets. We have bent every effort this year toward teaching commercial packing and out of the 25 counties exhibiting at the State Fair, only one failed to show its training in that particular. We were very proud of the uniformly good packs that these counties sent in, and felt much complimented that the Wash-ington Office should have selected one dozen glass jars to be photographed for a bulletin as examples of fine standard commercial packs. At the State Fair there were displayed 1,104 glass jars of fruits and vegetables, and two large pyramids of tins. While in New York I examined the packs of goods sold by Park & Tilford and found our girls' packs to compare most favorably. Our markets are good, and most of the counties are selling at home. Each county supervisor has been growing gradually into a consultant house-keeper for the county; promoting home economics in the country schools by her small cooking clubs, giving instruction in butter making, marketing, farm produce, grading and packing eggs, impressing the gospel of sanitation, and promoting "get together clubs." If we had the funds to employ these agents for the whole year, in my opin-ion there could be found no more efficient means of organizing the country women for better living. We have added eleven new counties to our organization for 1915, and have 16 Two Years' Progress twenty-seven counties whicli have applied, on our waiting list, which we will admit into the organization as soon as we can finance the work. To carry on the testing of recipes, which, by the way, is done with each recipe before it is given to the girls; and for tests in canning, it is necessary that we have a small laboratory simply equipped for the purpose. This will cost very little and I hope will be given us. This work has brought in such fine financial returns that in these times of depression it would seem the part of wisdom to put as much into it as is pos-sible. Our people are beginning to see that at all times wholesome food is a marketable commodity and that the surplus on their farms may be turned into a substantial income. Counties. p a Oc > r. b o Two Years' Pkogress 17 equipment and an annual maintenance fund equal to the amount received from the State to avail itself of the State appropriation not to exceed a maxi-mum of $2,500.00 for instruction in agriculture, sewing, cooking, household economics and other farm life subjects in connection with one or more of its rural high schools, nine new farm life schools have been established this year, making a total of 15 such schools in 12 counties of the State. No part of the annual maintenance fund for these schools or of the funds for their necessary equipment is allowed to be taken out of the regular school funds and to shorten the regular public school term until those funds are sufficient to pro-vide a minimum of six months. The significant and hopeful fact about their establishment through the cooperation and sacrifice of the people of the communities in which they are located is the evidence that it furnishes of intense interest in the education of country boys and girls for country life and of the faith of the country people in a sort of education and school that can and will provide better preparation for more profitable, more comfortable, more healthful, more joyous and more contented living in the country. The farmers, individually and through their various organizations, have lined up enthusiastically behind this movement. All the rural uplift forces of the State and county, educational, agricultural, public health, have actively cooperated in the movement. Five of these schools have been in successful operation now for two years or more, and their results more than justify the wisdom and the expense of their establishment and maintenance. In cooperation with the A. & M. College arrangements have been completed for supervision and aid in the direction of the vocational and extension work of these schools by trained specialist in these subjects who will, after this year, be connected with the State Depart-ment of Public Instruction also as supervisor of these schools and of this sort of work in other public schools, devoting such time to that work as may be necessary. As will be seen from the reports of Mr. Brogden and Mr. Newbold found elsewhere in this report, a number of consolidated rural schools with three or more teachers are also doing some excellent work in instruction and prac-tical training in farm life subjects without State aid under the direction of the county superintendents and the rural school supervisors. I regard the establishment of these schools and the remarkable increase in the number of them in one year through the efforts and demands of the coun-try people themselves as perhaps the most significant, practical and far-reaching single forward step of this biennial period and perhaps of the decade. In my opinion, it marks the beginning of a new era in rural education and in the adaptation of the work of the rural schools to the life and needs of the country people that is destined to result in increased effi-ciency of the rural population and in a re-direction and a re-organization of rural life and a revolution of rural conditions within one or two generations. Community Service Week.—One of the most hopeful, successful and stimu-lating movements for rtiral uplift was the inauguaration and observance of Community Service Week in 1914. Three days, December 3rd, 4th and 5th, were set apart by proclamation of Governor Craig as Community Service Days. Thursday was designated as "Public Roads, Grounds and Building Day" for voluntary work by men, women and children of each town, township or school district for needed improvement in one or all of these. Friday was Part 1—2 18 Two Years' Pbogkess designated as "School and Neighborhood Improvement Day" for a gathering of all the people with the children at every schoolhouse in town or country for a discussion of the conditions and needs of the community, and for making plans and appointing committees for the execution of those plans, for improving the schools, highways, social life, economic, moral and health con-ditions of the community. Saturday was designated as "County Progress Day" for a general county gathering at the county seat to discuss the needs and possibilities of the county and to make plans and inaugurate movements for its progress and development. Under the direction of a committee on Community Service Week, consisting -of the following: Clarence Poe, Chairman; W. C. Crosby, Secretary; J. Y. Joyner, W. A. Graham, E. K. Graham, J. I. Foust, H. Q. Alexander, D H. Hill, W. S. Rankin. T. B. Parker, and W. J. Shuford, cooperating with the follow-ing: The State Department of Education, The State Department of Agri-culture and Dr. Louis R. Wilson, a carefully prepared bulletin, containing programs for each day, full, valuable, detailed suggestions for its successful observance and for plans and committees, county and community, for the permanent direction of the work, statistical information about each county, suggested sources of information, stories of successful community and county service work accomplished in various counties and communities in the State, ^tc, was prepared. Dr. Louis R. Wilson, Librarian of the State University, Tendered invaluable assistance as editor of the bulletin. This bulletin was printed and distributed by the State Department of Public Instruction. With aid of an appropriation of $500 by the State Department of Agriculture sup-plemented with a smaller appropriation by the State Farmers' Union, Mr. W. 'C. Crosby was engaged as secretary, devoting his entire time for about ninety 'days, in cooperation with the committee through the State Department of Education and the indispensable assistance of county superintendent and teachers of each county, to the organization and direction of this work in the various counties and to the distribution of the literature relating to it. With-out his able assistance during these three months, it would have been im-possible for the State Department of Education to have conducted this work successfully. In addition to the bulletin, blanks for rural surveys, covering educational, economic, social, moral and sanitary conditions and needs of each community and county, were distributed. Many of these surveys were made and formed the basis for discussions and plans for county and community im-provement. The response to the appeal for the celebration of Community Ser-vice Week- and for community service by the public press, by the county su-perintendents and the teachers, by county boards of education and school com-mitteemen, by farm demonstration agents, by the county and local farmers' unions, by social service organizations of various sorts and by the people gen-erally, was hearty, encouraging and, in many instances, enthusiastic. Not-withstanding the unfortunately inclement weather on each of the three days the reports received in this office indicate that the days were observed most successfully and profitably in a large number of counties and communi-ties. A summary of these reports, giving fuller information about the results of these community service meetings, will be made and given to the public later. Even at this writing, however, enough is known from the reports al-ready received to warrant the prediction that Community Service Week will be generally observed next year and will become one of the most effective, per- Two Years' Progress 19 manent agencies for intelligent, cooperative work for rural and urban com-munity improvement in North Carolina. Practical histruction in Public Health and Hygiene.—With the valuable assistance and cooperation of the State Board of Health and its efficient and energetic secretary and assistant secretaries, much valuable work has been done in the public schools in increasing interest and giving instruction in public health and hygiene. Bulletins, dealing in a concise, simple, and practical way with the simple hygienic laws affecting the everyday life of the child and the people, have been prepared under the direction of the Secretary of the State Board of Health, and printed and distributed to teachers of the State by the State Department of Public Instruction. A list of these bulletins will be found under Educational Literature. Directions have been given to the teachers, through the county superin-tendents, to make use of these bulletins for the systematic instruction of the children of their schools in public health and hygiene, and to give to the entire school at least three brief health talks a week, the information for which, progressively and logically arranged, has been furnished them in the Health Talks Bulletins. Another one of these bulletins, enlarging some-what on the first ideas, is now in the course of preparation. This health and hygiene work is a long step forward toward the improve-ment of sanitary conditions and public health in the rural districts. County superintendents and public school teachers have responded intelligently and enthusiastically to the call for it. Emphasis was laid upon this work in the county teachers' institutes and special attention is being given to it in the county teachers' associations. By addresses and talks to the teachers and to the general public, the secretary and assistant secretary to the State Board of Health and the physicians of the State generally are aiding greatly in this campaign for the instruction of the children and the people of the State in public health and hygiene and in the cultivation of public sentiment therefor. It is impossible to calculate how much can be done, through simple instruction, line upon line, precept upon precept, for the rising generation in the public schools for the preven-tion and eradication of typhoid fever, tuberculosis, hookworm disease, scarlet fever, smallpox, diphtheria, and other preventable diseases that constitute the chief scourges of our population. The sentiment is rapidly growing and the demand rapidly increasing that such instruction shall be made an essential and organic part of our educational work. Campaign for Education.—The campaign for education, by bulletins, through the press, and by public addresses, has been carried on without cessation. The State Superintendent has used all the time that he could spare from his work in the office for field work and educational campaign work. In this work he has also been assisted by the State Agents for Rural Schools and the State Inspector of Public High Schools and other members of his educational staff. Through the continuance of the generous aid of the Southern Education Board, in providing funds for the payment of their expenses, strong speakers, who generously contributed their services, have been sent to communities asking for the agitation of the question of local taxation and the consolida-tion of schools, and to communities in which elections on the question of local taxation for public schools were pending. Among these speakers have been representative teachers, editors, lawyers, preachers, business men, public officials, and others. It is regretted that this Educational Campaign Fund 20 Two Yeaks' Progress will not hereafter be available, on account of the dissolution of the Southern Education Board after the death of Mr. Robert C. Ogden, its chairman and great benefactor. In many counties, of course, enthusiastic and consecrated county superin-tendents have carried on almost continuously effective campaigns for public education and school improvement, by personal work, public addresses, circu-lar letters, newspaper articles, etc. In this work many of them have been assisted by consecrated teachers and public spirited citizens of all classes and vocations. After all, the most effective part of this campaign is that carried on from year's end to year's end, without blare of trumpets, in the county, under the direction of an efficient county superintendent of common sense and consecration. Woman's Association for the Betterment of Public Schoolhouses and Grounds.—Marked progress has been made. Many new county associations have been organized. Through the unselfish work of the patriotic women of the State, county and local associations, thousands of dollars have been raised for the improvement of schoolhouses and grounds, and much valuable volun-tary service that can not be measured in dollars and cents has been rendered in making the schoolrooms and school grounds more beautiful and attractive, and in cultivating public sentiment and public interest for the betterment of the public schools. Many county superintendents, public school teachers, county boards of education, and school committeemen have given their hearty cooperation to the women in this work. County Commencements.—Another significant and distinctive forward step in the educational progress of the period has been the increased number of county commencements held and the increased interest and improvement in these events. In 1914, successful county commencements were held in forty-one counties in which about seventy-five thousand school children par-ticipated in parades, contests, school exhibits, school fairs and other events and about twenty-five hundred children received certificates after examination for the completion of the work of the seven elementary grades. These commencements have come to be, perhaps, the most effective educa-tional rallies and the most popular public gatherings in the counties in which they have been held. They have proved one of the most effective agencies for the stimulation of county pride, school spirit, community emula-tion, for the cultivation of public sentiment for public education and for the encouragement of children to remain in the public schools for the com-pletion of the elementary grades and to enter the rural high schools and the farm life schools. A bulletin on the county commencements, containing accounts of some of them, typical programs and valuable suggestions for their organization and successful conduction, has been issued from the State Department of Public Instruction, and a copy of the same can be obtained from any county superintendent. Important Educational Legislation.—The General Assembly of 1913 passed much very far reaching and important educational legislation and did much towards establishing means of increasing the efficiency of the public school system of the State: The State Equalizing Fund.—The State equalizing fund was created con-sisting of the revenue derived by setting aside annually five cents of the total annual State tax levy on each one hundred dollars valuation of property for appropriation to the public schools of this State to be used exclusively Two Years' Progress 21 for the payment of teachers' salaries, for lengthening the school term, and for bringing the school term in every public school district to an equal length and to a minimum of six months or as near thereto as the equal-izing fund will provide. The one hundred and twenty-five thousand dol-lar appropriation and the one hundred thousand dollar appropriation were repealed by this act and in lieu thereof two hundred and fifty thousand dol-lars was appropriated to be distributed to the public schools on a! per capita basis annually.. In the appropriation of the State equalizing fund the law specifies that no account shall be taken of local tax funds in the distribution of the money. In order to participate in this fund a county must, first, provide with its own funds sufficient money to run its schools eighty days and is required, if necessary, to levy a special tax not exceeding fifteen cents on the hundred dollar valuation of property and forty-five cents on each poll. Counties having complied with this requirement or having levied the maximum amount, are then apportioned funds to pay the salaries of their teachers for as long a term as this fund will provide. After levying the maximum rate of tax to provide a four months' term counties that still do not have sufficient funds for providing the term required are entitled by the act to receive aid from this fund on the same" basis as the counties providing the full four months' term. Compulsory Attendance.—All children between the ages of eight and tv/elve years are required to attend school for a term of four continuous months each year. Provision is made by the act for the exemption of pupils attend-ing approved private schools and for pupils prevented from attending school for providential reasons. Parents are required to send their children to school, and it is made a misdemeanor by the act for any parent or guardian to withhold a child from school subject to the provisions of the act. Attend-ance officers whose duties it is to enforce the law are appointed by the county board of education. Teachers are required to make weekly reports to the attendance officers of all absences and are required to cooperate in the enforcement of the law. The county board of education is given power to make such rules and regulations as they deem best to secure the attendance of the children to whicli the law applies. Child Labor Law.—No child under twelve years of age can be employed to work in any factory or manufacturing establishment in the State except in an apprenticeship capacity and then only after having attended school for four months in the preceding twelve. No person under sixteen years of age can be employed in a mill, factory, or manufacturing establishment be-tween the hours of 9 p. m. and 6 a. m. Violation of these provisions is made a misdemeanor, and the county superintendent is required to investigate. County Farm Life School Law.—The Guilford County Farm Life School Law was amended so as to apply to any county of the State complying with the provisions thereof. Under this act any county may receive from the State an appropriation not to exceed $2,500 for one or more of the rural high schools in the county when a like amount is provided by county appor-tionment, local taxation or otherwise, and the school or schools have com-plied with the other requirements specified, for instruction and extension work in sewing, cooking, household economics, agriculture and other farm-life subjects. 22 Two Yeaes' Pkogeess Women on School Boards.—The act specified tliat positions on rural and graded school boards, etc., shall not be deemed offices in this State, and women are therefore made eligible to serve in these places except where the person holding such position or place is elected by the people. County Unit of Apportionment.—Section 4116 of the Revisal was so amended as to make the county, instead of the township, the unit of apportionment of school funds and also gives the county board of education the authority, after a six months' school term has been provided, to pay not exceeding one-half the salary of a whole-time health officer for the county. Authority to Acquire School Sites. Section 4131 was amended so as to give the board of trustees and committee of chartered graded schools the same authority with respect to acquiring school sites under their direction that is vested in the county board of education. Counties May Unite in Employing Superintendents.—Section 4135 was amended so as to allow any county having a school fund not exceeding $15,000 to unite with an adjoining county in employing a county superin-tendent jointly for his full time. Appointm,ent of School Committeemen.—Section 4145 was amended so as to require the county boards of education to appoint school committeemen as follows: one for a term of three years; one for a term of two years; and one for a term of one year, and their successors each for a term of three years. Election of Teachers.—Section 4161 was amended so as to require all applications for positions to teach in a county to be filed with the county superintendent of public instruction and that the county board of education shall fix a day in each township for the election of teachers, at which time the committeemen of the various districts shall meet with the superintendent and elect teachers for all the schools of the township. It also provides that no election of any teacher shall be deemed valid until approved by the county superintendent. Loans for Dormitories.—Section 4153 was amended so as to allow a part of the loan fund to be used for the purpose of erecting dormitories for rural public high schools and farm life schools. Justices of the Peace Must Report to County Boards.—Section 410S was amended so as to require justices of the peace to report to the county board of education fines, forfeitures and penalties imposed in their courts. City Treasurers Must Report—Section 4158 was so amended as to require treasurers of city school funds to report to the State Superintendent. Must Provide for Payment of Teachers' Salaries.—Section 4164 was amended so as to authorize and require county boards of education to provide for the payment of teachers' salaries promptly at the end of each month. Members of County Board.—Section 4119 was amended so as to provide that members of the county board of education appointed by other members to fill unexpired terms shall serve only until the Legislature meets and acts. Assistant Teachers.—Section 4153 was amended so as to provid.e that no assistant teacher shall be employed in any one-teacher school until the average daily attendance is forty and that such assistant may be dismissed if average daily attendance for four consecutive weeks is less than forty. Public High Schools.—Section 1 of the public high school law was Two Years' Progress 23 amended so as to require every high school receiving State aid to maintain a term of at least seven months. Section 2 was amended so as to make the graded school committee the high school committee where the graded school received State aid for its high school. Qualifications of County Superintendent.—Section 4135 of the Revisal was amended so that the two years' experience required of a county superin-tendent must come within the five years immediately preceding his election. Educational Literature.—During the two years the following new educa-tional literature has been prepared, published and sent out from the Superin-tendent's office: Program of North Carolina Day, 1913, 56 pages. Community Service Week in North Carolina, 86 pages. Plans for Public Schoolhouses, revised and enlarged, 76 pages. Hand Book for High School Teachers, 1914, 92 pages. Public School Law, 1913. 143 pages. Public School Law, 1914. 83 pages. Directory of School Officials, 1913. 45 pages. Directory of School Officials, 1914. 45 pages. Teachers' Reading Circle, 1913. 12 pages. Teachers' Reading Circle, 1914. 12 pages. Fifth Annual Report of Inspector of High Schools, 1912. 60 pages. Sixth Annual Report of Inspector of High Schools, 1913. 59 pa^es. Proceedings and Addresses of the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly, 1913. 257 pages. Proceedings and Addresses of the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly, 1914. 266 pages. Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1910-1912. 469 pages. Daily Schedule of Work for Teachers' Institutes, 1914. 22 pages. How to Teach Reading and Civics, 1913. Ill pages. Song Collection for Teachers' Institute, 1913. 54 pages. Song Collection for Teachers' Institute, 1914. 57 pages. School Exhibits, 1913. 4 pages. Public School Register, 1913 and 1914. 48 pages. Record Book for Attendance Officer. 24 pages. Outline Course of Study for Elementary Public Schools, 1914. 154 pages. The County Commencement, 1914. 74 pages. Opening Exercises, 1914. 24 pages. Civic Days, 1913. 46 pages. In addition to these a supply of the most valuable bulletins heretofore pub-lished and reported has been kept on hand and will continue to be kept on hand for distribution. Besides the foregoing, blanks covering every phase of school organization and work have been sent out. These have aided all school officials in keeping their records and making accurate reports of the work done. A new and improved system of accounting has been introduced throughout the State to aid in keeping record of school funds. A new system of statistical records of the county superintendents has been provided dur-ing this biennial period. The efforts along this line have aided greatly in the gradation of rural schools, which means a great saving of time to the chil-dren who attend these schools by enabling them to do more consistent and con-secutive work. RECOMMENDATIONS. By the enactment of the law setting aside annually five cents of the State levy on every one hundred dollars of property as a "State Equalizing Fund" to lengthen the public school term, resulting the first year in an addition of 23.3 days, and by the passage of the compulsory attendance law, resulting the first year in an increase of about 12 per cent in pubic school attendance, the General Asembly of 1913 took a long and most commendable step in the direction of supplying two of the most pressing fundamental needs of the pub-lic schools, longer terms and better attendance. This progressive legisation in these directions, however, but emphasized the necessity of legislation by the General Assembly of 1915 for increased efficiency in teaching and supervision to guarantee better returns for increased expenditures and justify compulsory attendance. Profoundly convinced that efficient teaching and efficient supervision are the most pressing needs of our public schools at this time, are strategic points in the success and future progress of the public school system, and are, therefore, the most important subjects for conservatively progressive legislation by this General Assembly, I have confined my recommendations mainly to these two subjects. What we need most to do now is to enforce, strengthen and develop what we have. This we can best do by strengthening and protecting the teachers and superintendents, the directors and the executives of this great business of education. In the interest of increased efficiency in teaching and supervision, I beg, therefore, to make the following recommendations: I. Uniform Examination, Gradation, and Certification of Teacliers. Increased expenditures for schools and longer school terms ought to mean increased salaries for teachers, increased efficiency of teachers, and a higher standard of qualifications for the profession of teaching. People have a right to expect and to demand better teachers and better teaching when they pay more money. The work of the teacher must be elevated to the plane of a profession and must be given the protection guaranteed to other professions and even to callings that are not professions before there can be much inducement to men and women of character and ability to adopt it as a life work and equip themselves professionally for it. The raising therefore of the standard of qualifications for a license to teach, and the establishment of a uniform and impartial standard is absolutely necessary for the protection of teachers, the protection of the public, and the estabishment of any real profes-sion of teaching. Under the present method of examination, gradation and certification of teachers, no certificate, except a High School certificate and a five-year first grade State certificate issued by the State Board of Examiners under the High School Law, is valid in any county except the county in which it is issued, un-less the county superintendent of any other county sees fit to approve and en-dorse it. No first grade certificate is valid for more than two years, and no second grade certificate for more than one. Each of the one hundred county 26 Kecommendations superintendents, can, if he cliooses to exercise his autliority, establish practi-cally his own standard of examination, gradation and certification of teachers, and each succeeding county superintendent in each of the one hundred counties, can, at his discretion, change the standard. In justice to the teach-ers and for their encouragement and stimulation to better preparation, schol-astic and professional, and to the permanent pursuit of the profession of teaching, some, uniform and equitable plan should be devised as recommended herein for giving proper credits for academic and professional work done, and for successful experience and length of service, for relief from repeated exami-nations, and for life license. I urgently recommend, therefore, the enactment of a law providing for uni-form examination, gradation and certification of teachers, urban and rural, by a State board of examiners, composed of representative superintendents of schools, urban and rural, and of representative teachers of primary schools, grammar schools, high schools and colleges. After investigation of the meth-ods of examining and certificating teachers in many other States, I beg to suggest the following outline of this plan (a) That examination and gradation of all applicants shall be made by the State Board of Examiners to establish a uniform standard of academic qualifications, and that said board shall certify to the applicant and to the superintendent of schools the grade and class of certificate to which said ap-plicant is entitled. (6) That the County Superintendent shall issue a certificate of the kind designated to each successful applicant of his county, if, in his judgment, the personality of such applicant and his general qualifications other than schol-arship fit him for the work of teaching. That in case of refusal of the County Superintendent to issue such certificate the applicant shall have the right to appeal from his action to the County Board of Education of said county for review and investigation of the causes of such refusal, and for the final determination of the matter. (c) Certificates so issued shall be valid without further examination in any county of the State when approved by the Superintendent of Public In-struction of said county, but shall not be valid to teach in town or city schools until approved also by the superintendent of said schools, and upon the refusal of the city or town superintendent to approve said certificate the holder there-of shall have the right to appeal to the Board of School Trustees of said town or city for review, investigation and final determination of the matter. (fZ) That superintendents in cities and towns of 5,000 or more inhabitants may conduct the examination of applicants for schools under their super-vision, subject to such rules and regulations as the State Board of Examiners may prescribe, and may issue to successful applicants the required certificates under the provisions of this Act. (e) 'J hat said Board of Examiners shall arrange and adopt a plan for the classification of certificates and for the promotion of teachers from one class to another, and for life license, that shall encourage and reward by a reason-able increase in salary, successful experience, professional training and ad-vanced scholastic attainment, and that shall provide for proper credits for academic work in certain subjects in standard high schools,, normal schools and colleges. (/) That a graded system of fees by applicants for examination be ar- Kecommendations 27 ranged to meet the expenses of the State Board of Examiners, said fees to be paid into the State Treasury. (f;) The refusal of one county or city superintendent or county or city Board of Education to issue a certificate to any applicant certified by the State Board of Examiners shall not operate to prevent said applicant from ap-plying for a certificate to any other county or city superintendent. (h) That there shall be a fixed minimum professional and scholarship re-quirement in advance of present requirements for teachers of each class or grade after a fixed future date. (i) That there shall be required the same minimum qualification in schol-arship and experience for county and city superintendents after a fixed future date as may be required for a first grade elementary teacher's certificate. II. Coiiuty Superiision. In every county the county superintendent is necessarily the business and professional head and director of the county school system. No big business can be permanently successful without a competent head devoting his entire time and ability to the organization and direction of the business in all of its departments. 'J'he education of thousands of children through scores of schools and teachers in each county is the biggest and most important busi-ness in that county. The business has been growing bigger and more impor-tant in every county every year. The expenditures for it by State, county, and district taxation have been rapidly increasing every year until in 1914 they were in the State five times what they were in 1902. The business has grown most rapidly and its success along all lines has been greatest in those counties that have employed competent whole-time superintendents at a living salary and have given these superintendents adequate assistance where needed. Increased expenditures, increased attendance, increased teaching force, lengthened school terms, demonstrated successful results in counties that have tried it as set forth elsewhere in my biennial report, seem to me to make the conclusion irresistible that the time has come for the employment of a com-petent whole-time county superintendent at a living salary in every county, and, in the larger counties for the employment of such additional assistance, clerical and professional, at the expense of the county as eflacient administra-tion and supervision of the work may demand. I, therefore, recommend for more efficient supervision: (a) That the law be so amended as to require the county Board of Educa-tion of each county to employ for his entire time a competent superintendent, who shall be required to give his entire time to the direction of the educational work of the county and the visitation and supervision of the schools while in session and who shall be forbidden to engage in any other profession or regular business while superintendent. (b) That county boards of education in the larger and wealthier counties be specifically authorized to employ such additional clerical and profes-sional assistance for the county superintendent as may be deemed nec-essary for the greater efficiency of the work; provided, however, that each county shall provide the additional expense necessary for such assistance out of its special levy, or its regular county school funds, and that no part of the same shall come directly or indirectly from the State Equalizing Fund. It is, of course, apparent that the additional expense necessary for the em-ployment of a whole-time superintendent in counties employing only part-time 28 Recommendations superintendents now, will be provided by the special levy for necessary expenses for a four-months term, or out of the "State Equalizing Fund" in counties in which such a levy is unnecessary. As the State, therefore, bears directly or indirectly this additional expense for whole-time county superin-dents, as the school term in the county will not be shortened thereby, as the smaller and weaker counties, because of their lack of them heretofore, need them worse now, I can conceive of no valid objection to providing whole-time county superintendents for these counties as well as for larger and stronger counties, practically all of which now have them at State expense. Nor can 1 see any reasonable objection to authorizing specifically any county to provide at its own expense additional assistance for its superintendent, if it is able to do so and needs it. III. IVon-itartisan County Boards of Ediieation. .As stated in my recommendations two years ago, it is, in my opinion, wise and just that wherever well qualified men can be found in the minority party, representation should be given to both of the leading political parties upon County Boards of Education. Since the schools are maintained by the taxes of all the people, patronized by the children of all the people, irrespective of their political views, and need for their success the hearty support and inter-est of all the people, they should therefore be removed as far as possible from partisan politics, and directed by a board as non-partisan as is consistent with the constitutional requirement for a uniform system of education and with the responsibility of the majority political party of the State for the successful administration of that system in every county of the State. The method of selecting County Boards of Education should be made uniform. By special legislation six counties now elect their County Boards of Education. Section 2 of Article IX of the Constitution of North Carolina requires a uniform sys-ter of public schools." IV. ImproTeiiieut and Enlargement of Laws for the Protection of Childliood and Womanhood. For the protection of childhood and womanhood, the foundation upon which our whole civilization rests, I urgently recommended improving and enlarging the present laws regulating the labor of children and women in the factories and the extension, and the extension of these laws to include all companies, corporations and individuals employing children and women. I recommend also the establishment of an efficient system of State inspection for the en-forcement of such laws. I refrain from specific recommendations at this time awaiting the recommendations of the North Carolina Child Labor Com-mittee, the Conference for Social Service, and other organizations that are making a special study of this subject, and I shall heartily cooperate with such organizations in recommending and securing the enactment and en-forcement of any reasonable laws for the better protection of childhood and womanhood. V. Endorsement of Other Reeonuitendations. I concur in the recommendations of Superintendent of the Colored Normal Schools for the small sorely needed increase in the annual appropriation for the maintenance and equipment of these schools; in the recommendations of Recommendations 21) the State High School Inspector for the small increase in the annual appro-priation absolutely necessary for their development and the increasing need-- incident to the their rapid growth and in the recommendations of the StatP Agent and Supervisor of Negro Rural Schools for the establishment of train-ing schools and the encouragement of industrial training in the negro schools. I beg to call your careful attention to these recommendations in their reports printed elsewhere in this report. VI. Jforiiial Training' Courses in the Piil)lic Hisrh Schools. I concur heartily in the recommendation of the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly for the addition of Normal Training Courses of study in the first class public high schools as an effective means of placing within reach of the rank and file of the rural school teachers at small expense, some professional preparation for more efficient teaching. I hope that the General Assembly may be able to make a special appropriation for this work. VII. Minor Amendments to the Public School Law. I deem it unnecessary to recommend specifically here some minor amend-ments to the public school law which will be submitted to the General Assem-bly in an omnibus bill through the committees on education. Resolutions of the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly and the State Farm-ers' Union. I beg to submit below the recommendations and resolutions of the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly and the State Farmers' Union relating to educa-tion adopted unanimously at their annual meetings in 1914: Resolutions of the Xortli Carolina Teachers' Asseniblj'. The Committee on Resolutions beg to make the following report and offer the following resolutions for adoption by the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly : First. That we heartily recommend the addition of normal training to the course of study offered in our public high schools, and request the Legisla-tive Committee to urge the next Legislature to provide by law for this addi-tion to the course of study in these high schools, as the most effective means for securing an adequate number of trained teachers for our elementary schools. Second. That we very earnestly and heartilj^ endorse the recommendation of the State Department of Education with reference to a system of uniform examination and certification of teachers of the public schools of the State and request the Legislative Committee of the North Carolina Teachers' As-sembly to present this matter with our endorsement to the next General Assembly of North Carolina. J. I. FOUST. I. C. GRIFFIN. J. H. HIGHSMITH. MISS FRANCES WOMBLE. MISS DAPHNE CARRAWAY. 30 Recommendations Recommendations and Resolutions of tiie North Carolina Farmers Educa-tional and Co-opeiatiie Union, Greenville, 1914. The Committee on Education desires to offer the following report: 1. We congratulate the State Union and its faithful and powerful allies (the State Department of Education a,nd our State institutions of learning) on the success achieved in changing the trend of sentiment in our system of public educa,tion from the purely academic to the practical. 2. In our opinion, the time has come in North Carolina when the people have a right to expect and to demand better teachers and better teaching as they annually put more and more money into the work, and since it is prac-tically impossible to secure this without raising the standard of the profes-sion, we recommend that the General Assembly of the State be asked to enact a law providing for the uniform examination, gradation, and certifica-tion of teachers. 3. We favor the amendment of our compulsory school attendance law so as to apply to the children from the ages of eight to fourteen years, inclusive. 4. In order to stimulate reading—and the right kind of reading—among the members of our local Unions, we recommend that our State Union give five hundred dollars annually for the purpose of helping local Unions throughout the State to establish and supplement libraries, confined largely to books on country-life problems; that from this fund five dollars be given to each local in the State which furnishes ten dollars for this purpose; that this sum be given each year to the first one hundred locals making application, and that our State President appoint a Library Comrriittee of three members to select books and prescribe necessary regulations governing the same. 5. We deplore the fact that in a great many communities in the State the less intelligent farmers object to the teaching of agriculture and domestic science in the nublic schools, often criticising teachers of these subjects in the presence of their children, thus lessening the influence of the teacher, not only in the work of teaching these subjects, but also in the whole work of the school. We would urge, therefore, that the locals in such communities use their influence to have these fundamental subjects taught as required by the law which was enacted at the request of the farmers of the State. 6. We wish most heartily to commend the State Department of Education and also the State University, the A. & M. College, the Normal and Industrial College, the Cullowhee Normal and Industrial School, the East Carolina Teachers Training School, and the Appalachian Training School, for the splendid work they have done and are doing in the practical forms of educa-tion which are prime factors in community building. Fraternally submitted, W. C. CROSBY, Chairman. T. C. HENDERSON, Sec'y. J. E. TURLINGTON. C. C. WRIGHT. T. S. COBLE. W. R. JULIAN. E. L. FRANK. WORK TO BE DOME AND HOW TO DO IT. Notwithstanding the encouraging progress along all former lines and the encouraging beginning along new lines of educational work during the past two years, as revealed by the official reports, the work to be done and the ways and means of doing it have not been materially changed since my preceding report. As I discussed most of these subjects somewhat fully and to the best of my ability in that report, basing my discussion and suggestions on the most careful study of our educational conditions that I have been able to make, I have deemed it wise to bring forward, with some changes and addi-tions, parts of my previous biennial report. This is the work to be done, as I see it; these are the ways and means of doing it, as I see them. I can do no better than to cry aloud and spare not until the General Assembly and the people hear and heed the suggestions or in their wisdom find and adopt some better ways of doing this needed work. TJioroughness in Essentials.—The foundation of all education is, of course, a mastery of the rudiments of knowledge—the elementary branches of read-ing, writing, arithmetic, and spelling. A knowledge of these and the training and development which comes from the effort necessary for the acquisition of such knowledge are absolutely essential for every human being. It is folly to talk about higher education or special training along any line for any useful sphere of life or work until the children have secured at least this much instruction. According to the United States Census of 1910 12.3 per cent of the white population and 31 per cent of the colored population over ten years of age in North Carolina could not read and write. While I have no doubt that we have reduced this per cent of illiteracy during the past four years, it is still painfully true that there is yet a large number of illiterates among us and a larger number of children on the straight road to illiteracy. A large majority of our country schools are still one-teacher schools. The average length of our white rural school term is still only 116 days. Our chief attention should, therefore, be given to doing thoroughly this founda-tion work and making adequate provision for it. If the foundation be not well laid first, the entire educational structure must fall to pieces. The law now wisely forbids the teaching of any high school subjects in any school having only one teacher. It requires, however, the teachiiTg of thirteen subjects in these one-teacher schools. It is absolutely impossible for one teacher, with as many children as are to be found in the average rural school in seven grades, to do thorough work in so many subjects. It seems to me that the number of required subjects should be reduced, that the teacher in every one-teacher school should be required to devote more time—in fact, most of the time—to teaching thoroughly these fundamental essentials in reading, writing, arithmetic and spelling. It is folly to attempt the impossible. In my opinion, at least the first four years of the elementary school with only one teacher should be devoted almost exclusively to these four subjects, sand-wiching in just enough of geography, mainly in the form of nature study, talks on everyday hygiene, etc., to give a little variety to the course and to furnish some foundation for a little more extensive work in these and kindred subjects later. 32 Work to be Done and How to Do It There is more educational value, more acquisition of power and of correct intellectual habits in a thorough mastery of a few subjects than in a super-ficial knowledge, a mere smattering, of many. The one lays the foundation for real culture; the other lays the foundation for nothing better than veneer-ing. I am satisfied that there is great need for a substantial reform along this line in the required course of study in our elementary schools. The sensible teachers in the one-teacher schools are not attempting to teach this multiplicity of required subjects, and those who are attempting to teach all of these are failing to teach any as they should be taught. The law ought not to require a vain and foolish thing. Public High Schools.—Every child has the right to have the chance to de-velop to the fullest every faculty that God has endowed him with. It is to the highest interest of the State to place within the reach of every child this chance. By the evidence of the experience of all civilized lands of the past and the present, the study of the higher branches is necessary for the fullest development of these faculties. Unless provided in the public schools, in-struction in these can not be placed within reach of nine-tenths of the chil-dren of North Carolina. If the great masses of our people are to be limited in their education to the elementary branches only, we can not hope for any material improvement in their intelligence and power and any material in-crease in their earning capacity. This State cannot expect to compete suc-cessfully with those States that have provided such instruction in their public schools for the highest and fullest development of all the powers of all their people. "The old idea that instruction in the public schools must be confined to the rudimentary branches only, or the three R's, as they were called, was born of the old false notion that the public schools were a public charity. This notion put a badge of poverty upon the public school system that was for many years the chief obstacle to the progress and development of public edu-cation in North Carolina. The notion still lingers in the minds of the few that at heart do not believe in the power and rights of the many. It has no place in a real democracy. It must give place to that truer idea, accepted now in all progressive States and lands, that public education is the highest govern-mental function—in fact the chief concern of a good government. This was the conception of our wise old forefathers when they declared in their Constitu-tion that 'Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good govern-ment and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged,' and when they wrote into their Bill of Rights, 'The people have a right to the privilege of education, and it is the duty of the State to guard and maintain that right.' "No man in this age will dare maintain that instruction in the mere rudi-ments of learning can be called an education or that the people have been given the right to an education when instruction in these branches only has been placed within their reach. Under this broader democratic conception of public education and its function the obligation of the Government to the poorest is as binding as its obligation to the richest. The right of the poorest to the opportunity of the fullest development is as inalienable as the right of the richest. Good government and the happiness of mankind are as depend-ent upon the development of the fullest powers of the poorest as upon the development of the fullest powers of the richest. Where the Creator has hid-den the greatest powers no man can know till all have been given the fullest Work to be Done and How to Do It 33 opportunity to develop all that is in them. Every taxpayer, rich or poor, has an equal right to have an equal chance for the fullest development of his children in a pubic school with the fullest course of instruction that the State in the discharge of its governmental function is able to provide. "Public high schools constitute a part of every modern, progressive system of public education. If our system of public schools is to take rank with the modern, progressive systems of other States and other lands, to meet the modern demands for education and supply to rich and poor alike equal edu-cational opportunity, instruction in these higher branches, whereby prepa-ration for college or for life may be placed within the easy reach of all, must find a fixed and definite plan in the system." Under the act of the General Assembly appropriating $75,000 from the State Treasury to aid in the establishment of public high schools, 212 public high schools in 96 counties of the State have been established, and applica-tions for the establishment of many others have had to be refused each year on account of the insufficiency of the appropriation. A report of these schools by Prof. N. W. Walker, State Inspector of Public High Schools, is published elsewhere in this report. I commend it to your careful attention. Under the law and the rules adopted by the State Board of Education, not more than four of these schools can be established in any one county. No public high school can be established except in connection with a public school having at least two other teachers in the elementary and intermediate grades, and the entire time of at least one teacher must be devoted to the high school grades. No public high school can be established in a town of more than twelve hundred inhabitants. Each district in which a public high school is established is required to duplicate by special taxation or subscription the amount apportioned to the school from the State appropriation; each county is required to apportion to each public high school out of the county fund an amount equal to that appor-tioned to it out of the State appropriation. The minimum sum that can be ap-portioned annually from the State appropriation for the establishment and maintenance of any public high school is $250 and the maximum sum $500. The total sum annually available for any public high school established under this act ranges, therefore, from $750 to $1,500. The high school funds can be used only for the payment of salaries of the high school teachers and the necessary incidental expenses of the high school grades. No teacher can be employed to teach or can draw salary for teaching any subjects in any public high school who does not hold a high school teacher's certificate covering at least all subjects taught by said teacher in said public high school, issued by the State Board of Examiners, of which the State Superintendent is ex officio chairman. The course of study is prescribed by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. As indicative of the need and demand for these schools, I beg to call your attention to the fact that there have been applications for many more such schools than could be established with the appropriation, and that the number of such applications would have been greatly increased had it not been under-stood that the appropriation was already exhausted. As a further striking indication of the need for them, of the desire among the masses of the country people for higher instruction, and of their willingness and determination to avail themselves of the opportunities placed within their reach for such in-struction, I beg to call your attention to these significant facts, taken from Part 1—3 B4 WoKK TO BE Done and How to Do It the official reports of these schools, all of which are in country districts or small towns of less than twelve hundred people: 8,316 country boys and girls were enrolled in the high school grades of these schools during the seventh year, and of these 6,307 were in average daily attndance. Do not the large enrollment and the remarkable average daily attendance of more than 73 per cent of the enrollment in these high schools indicate almost a pathetic eagerness of the country boys and girls for high school in-struction, and a commendable willingness on the part of their parents to make the sacrifices necessary to give their children a chance to avail them-selves of the opportunities to get it? Is it not more than probable that per-haps nine-tenths of all these boys and girls enrolled in all the grades of these high schools would never have had an opportunity for any higher instruction or better preparation through higher instruction for service and citizenship had not these public high schools been established within their reach and means? The State and county can not afford to ignore this demand and need. An adequate system of public high schools will be found to be a part of every modern system of public education in all progressive cities and States in the country and in the most progressive and prosperous countries of the world. It is a need and demand of the age. By no other means than by the public high school can high school instruction be placed within the reach of the children of the many. By no other means than by the rural public high school can it be placed within the reach of the great majority of the country boys and girls. The private high school cannot meet this demand, because the tuition and other necessary charges for its maintenance place it beyond the means of the majority of the country boys and girls, and because the number of country parents who are able to bear these necessary expenses of instruction in private high schools for their children is far too small to maintain enough of these private high schools to be within reasonable reach of more than a very small minority of the country boys and girls. No one church is able to support enough of these high schools to place high school instruction within reasonable reach or within the financial ability of more than a mere handful of boys and girls in the rural districts. The church high school could hardly hope for the patronage of more than the children of the families accepting its tenets or inclined to its doctrines. For a complete system of high schools, therefore, that would reach all the children, it would seem to be necessary for each denomination to maintain a system of high schools in every county and to have as many systems of high schools in each county as there are denominations in that county. The im-practicability and expensiveness of meeting adequately the demand for high school instruction among the masses of the people, especially in the rural districts, by private high schools or by church high schools must be apparent, therefore, to any thoughtful student of rural conditions. The task of placing high school instruction within reasonable reach of all the children of all the people, irrespective of creed or condition, is too great and too complicated, it seems to me, ever to be successfully performed by church, private enterprise or philanthropy. If performed at all, it seems to me, it must be by all the people supporting by uniform taxation a system of public high schools of sufficient number to be within the reasonable reach of all the children of every county and community, with doors wide open Work to be Done and How to Do It 35 to the children of the poor and the children of the rich, irrespective of creed or condition, affording equality of educational opportunity to all the children of a republic, of which equality of opportunity is a basic principle. The church high school and the private high school will still find a place and an important work in our educational system, but they can never take the place or do the work of the public high school for the masses of the people. There will always be those among us who will prefer the church or private high school, and who will be able to indulge this preference, but the main dependence of the many for higher education must still be the public high school, suported by the taxes of all the people, belonging to all the people, within reach of all the people. God speed the work of the church and the private high school in this common battle against ignorance and illiteracy. There is work enough for all to do; but surely in a republic like ours, one of the cardinal principles of which is and must ever be the greatest good to the greatest number, friends of the church high school and of the private high school will never undertake to say that all the people must get out of the way of a few of the people, and that the many public high schools, supported by all the people for the benefit of all the children, must get out of the way for a few private and church high schools that can at best hope to reach but a few of the children of tlie people. Future Development of Public High Schools.—There are now from one to four public high schools in each of the 96 counties of the State. There are, therefore, four counties in which no public high schools have yet been estab-lished. For the proper maintenance and development of these high schools more money will, of course, be required. It is our hope to be able to select the best high school in each county, taking into consideration the location, the accessibility, the environment, etc., and develop this into a real first-class county high school, doing thorough high school work for four full years and some vocational work in agriculture, sew-ing and cooking and other rural life subjects. Around this school should be built a dormitory and a teachers' home. The dormitory, properly conducted, would afford and opportunity for the boys and girls from all parts of the county to board at actual cost. Many of these could return to their homes Friday evening, coming back Mcnoay morning. Many of them who do not have the money to spare to pay their board would probably be able to bring such provisions as are raised on the farm and have them credited on their board at the market price. A small room rent could be charged each student. The principal's home would make it possible to secure a better principal and keep him probably for years, thereby giving more permanency to the school and more continuity to the work, making a citizen of the teacher and enabling him and his family to become potent factors in the permanent life of the com-munity, contributing no small part to uplifting it, morally and intellectually, by their influence. It is my hope to be able to secure the development of a number of these central county high schools in the most favorable counties, equipped with dor-mitories and teachers' homes, and demonstrate the practibility, success and the value of them. Having done this, it will be easy to secure their establish-ment and development in other counties. We should gradually develop in every county of the State at least one first-class county high school with dormitory and teacher's home. Then the other high schools in different sec-tions of the county should be correlated with this central school, and the 36 WoKK TO BE Done and How to Do It course of study in these should be limited probably to not more than two years of high school work, requiring all students desiring to pursue the last two years of the four-years course to attend the central county high school, which will be fully equipped in all respects for thorough high school work. The central county high schools, as they grow and develop, should become also the nuclei for successful industrial and agricultural training. Parallel courses of study for the last two years might be arranged, one course offering thorough preparation for college of the small number of students desiring such preparation and the other offering practical industrial and agri-cultural training for the large number whose education will end with the high school. The dormitory would afford a splendid equipment for practice work for the girls in cooking, domestic science, household economics, etc.; while the boys, during the last two years, could have training in agricultural sub-jects that will fit them for more intelligent and profitable farming. The prac-tical side of this work could be supplied by acquiring by purchase or lease a small farm in connection with the high school. All this development must, of course, be a gradual and and perhaps a some-what slow growth. It is best that it should be. We must be content with the day of small things. We can not far outrun the desire, demand, and ability of the people. Our schools must have their roots in the life and needs of the people and grow out of these. They must not be lifted at once so high above these that their roots can not not touch them and that the people will be un-able to reach up to them. They must connect with the life and conditions as they now are, and grow upward slowly, changing these gradually and lifting them upward with them as they grow The best colleges of the State are raising their entrance requirements with a gradual elevation of their courses of study to standard colleges, thereby em-phasizing the necessity for the development of more high schools prepared to give a full four years course of high school instruction, in order to prepare students at home for entering these higher institutions. The demand for vocational work in agriculture, sewing, cooking, household economics and other rural life subjects for preparation of country boys and girls at home for country life is increasing, and becoming more insistent every year, thereby also emphasizing the necessity for the establishment and maintenance of more rural high schools with a full four years course of study including instruction in these rural life subjects. If these demands are to be met, there must be an increase in the State, county, and district appropria-tions for the establishment and maintenance of more of these central rural high schools, prepared in faculty and material equipment, to give a full four years course of study for preparation for college and for vocational prepara-tion for country life. Industrial and Agricultural Education.—"Every complete educational sys-tem must make provision also for that training in the school which will give fitness for the more skillful performance of the multitudinous tasks of the practical work of the world, the pursuit of which is the inevitable lot of the many, for that training which will connect the life and instruction of the school more closely with the life that they must lead, which will better pre-pare them for usefulness and happiness in the varied spheres in which they must move. All these spheres are necessary to the well being of a complex life Work to be Done and How to Do It 37 like ours. The Creator, who has ordained all spheres of useful action, has not endowed all with the same faculties or fitted all for the same sphere of action. " 'We are all but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body Na,ture is, and God the soul!" "Every wise system of education, therefore, must, beyond a certain point of educational development, recognize natural differences of endowment and fol-low to some extent the lines of natural adaption and tastes, thus cooperating with Nature and God. The education that turns a life into unnatural chan-nels and into the pursuit of the unattainable fills that life with discontent and dooms it to inevitable failure and tragedy. In recognition of these established laws of Nature and life, manual training and industrial education are begin-ning to find a fixed and permanent place in systems of modern education. They have already been given a place in some of the higher institutions of our public school system—in the A. and M. College for the white race at Ra-leigh, in the State Normal and Industrial College for women at Greensboro, in the A. and M. College for the colored race at Greensboro, and in our county farm life schools. Under the new supervision industrial training is empha-sized in the State Colored Normal Schools at Winston, Fayetteville, and Eliza-beth City. Some of the city graded schools, notably those of Durham, Ashe-ville, Wilmington, Winston, Greensboro, Charlotte, and Raleigh, have intro duced manual training and industrial education. "This sort of education, however, must come as a growth, a development of a general school system that provides first for the intellectual mastery of those branches that are recognized as essential for intelligent citizenship and workmanship everywhere. It must be remembered that the first essential difference between skilled labor and unskilled labor is a difference of intelli-gence as well as of special training; that a skilled farmer must be first of all a thinking man on the farm; a skilled mechanic, a thinking man in the shop; that a skilled hand is but a hand with brains put into it and finding ex-pression through it; that without brains put into it a man's hand is no more than a monkey's paw ; that without brains applied to it a man's labor is on the same dead level with the labor of the dull horse and the plodding ox; that a man with a trained hand and nothing more is a mere machine, a mere hand. The end of education is first to make a man, not a machine. "It will be well to remember, also, that industrial education is the most ex-pensive sort of education, on account of the equipment necessary for it and the character of the teachers required for it. Teachers prepared for success-ful instruction in this sort of education must, of course, be in some sense specialists in their line, and always command good salaries. For the majority of the public schools of the State, therefore, with one-room schoolhouses with-out special equipment and with one teacher without special training, with the present meager salary, and barely money enough for a five months term and for instruction in the common school branches, with more daily recitations already than can be successfully conducted, industrial educa-tion and technical training are at present impracticable. "A study of the history of this sort of education will show that it has come as a later development, after ample provision had been made for thorough in-struction in the lower and in the higher branches of study, in those schools that were provided with school funds sufficient for instruction in the ordi-nary school studies, for the expensive equipment and for the teachers trained 38 Work to be Done and How to Do It especially for industrial and technical education. In fact, I think it will be found that such education has been provided first in towns and cities and great centers of wealth and population or in institutions generously supported by large State appropriations or by large endowments. To undertake such edu-cation in the ordinary rural schools of the State in their present condition, with their present equipment and with the meagre funds available for them, would result in burlesque and failure, and would, in my opinion, set back for a generation or two this important work." We can and should, however, continue to give in all our public schools, elementary instruction in agriculture, and to encourage nature study in these schools. An admirable little text-book on agriculture has been adopted for use in the public schools, and in the course of study sent out nature study has been provided for every grade. In a number of counties, with the aid of the county superintendents and their assistants in rural school supervision, many public schools with three or more teachers have been organized by consolidation and enlargement of small districts. In these schools without interference with thorough instruction in the required elementary school subjects, some efficient instruction is being successfully undertaken in sevving, cooking, gardening, agriculture, and other subjects adapted to country life. We must reduce to a necessary minimum, as rapidly as possible, the one-teacher schools, and multiply as rapidly as possible the number of schools with three or more teachers. If we expect to place more thorough instruction in the prescribed elementary branches and any sort of efficient industrial and agricultural education within close reach of the majority of the country children. I beg to call special attention to the fuller reports of the work of the elementary rural schools of this type and to the encouraging results thereof, contained in the reports of the State Agents in Rural Supervision published elsewhere in this report. I beg to call attention, also, to the discussion of these subjects contained in the address of the State Superintendent to the State Association of County Superintendents published elsewhere in this report. The longest and most successful step in the direction of efficient industrial and agricultural education for preparation of country boys and girls for country life yet taken, is the establishment of the county farm-life schools, a fuller discussion of which will be found in the first part of this report. Illiteracy and Nonattendance and How to Overcome The^n—Compulsory Attendance.—With 131,992 native white illiterates over ten years of age, or 12.3 per cent, according to the United States Census of 1910; with only 79 per cent of the white children between the ages of six and twenty-one enrolled in the public schools and only 55 per cent of them in reguar daily attendance; with about 115,000 white children between these ages unenrolled in the public schools; with North Carolina still standing in the United States Census of 1910 near the last in the column of white illiteracy, the urgent need of finding and enforcing some means of changing as rapidly as possible these appalling conditions must be apparent to every thoughtful, patriotic son of the State. Two means suggest themselves: (1) Attraction and persuasion. (2) Com-pulsory attendance. Attraction and Persuasion.—"Much has been done, much more can be done, to increase attendance through the attractive power of better houses and grounds, better teachers, and longer terms. An attractive schoolhouse and a good teacher in every district, making a school commanding by its work Work to be Done and How to Do It 39 public confidence, respect and pride, would do much to overcome nonattend-ance. The attractive power of improved schools and equipment to increase attendance is clearly demonstrated by the statistics of this Report, which show with few exceptions, the largest per cent of attendance in consolidated districts, rural special tax districts and entire counties that have the largest school fund, the longest school terms, and the best schools. "The general rule seems to be, then, that attendance is in direct proportion to the efficiency of the schools and the school system. I have already called your attention to the fact that with the improvement in the public school-house and schools, and the increased educational interest during the past few years, has come also an increase in the per cent of enrollment and at-tendance in the public schools. "Much can also be done to increase the attendance upon the public schools by earnest teachers, who will go into the homes of indifferent or selfish parents whose children are not in school, and by persuasive argument and tact and appeals to parental pride induce many of these parents to send their children; who will seek out children in homes of poverty, and remove, through quiet, blessed charity, the causes of their detention from school. From the census and from the report of the preceding teacher recorded in the school register each teacher can ascertain at the beginning of the session the names of all illiterates and non-attendants of school age in the district and report-ed cause of non-attendance. Under the rules recommended by the State Superintendent and adopted by many county boards of education the teacher is required to spend two days immediately preceding the opening of the school in visiting the parents and making special efforts to get these children to at-tend school. I have no doubt that many of these can be and will be reached by these efforts. Much can be done, also, by active, efficient school committee-men and other school officers who will take an interest in the school and aid the teachers in finding and bringing in the children. "The compelling power of public opinion will do much to bring children into the school. Logically, as public sentiment for education increases, public sentiment against nonattendance will increase. Public opinion might, in many communities, be brought to the point of rendering it almost disgrace-ful for parents to keep children at home without excellent excuse during the session of the schools. Self-respecting parents would be loath to defy such a public opinion and run the risk of forfeiting the esteem of the best people of the community. "It is the tragic truth, however, that there are some parents so blinded by ignorance to the value and importance of education, and others so lazy, thrift-less or selfish that they can not be reached by the power of attraction and persuasion, or the mild compulsion of public opinion." It is the sad truth that those, whose children most need the benefits offered by the public schools are hardly to be reached by any other means but compulsion. Compulsory Attendance.—The tendency of illiteracy is to perpetuate itself. The majority of illiterate children are the children of illiterates and perhaps the descendants of illiterates. It is natural that ignorance and illiteracy, being incapable of understanding or appreciating the value and the necessity of education, should' be indifferent and apathetic toward it—just as natural as it is for the children of darkness to love darkness rather than light. The inter-vention of the strong arm of the law is the only effective means of saving the children of illiterates from the curse of illiteracy. The intervention of 40 Work to be Done and How to Do It the strong arm of the law is, in my opinion, the only hope of saving, also, the children of literate, and sometimes intelligent, parents from the careless-ness, indifference, incompetency, laziness, thriftlessness or selfishness of such parents. No child is responsible for coming into the world, nor for his environment when he comes. Every child has a right to have a chance to develop the power to make the most possible of himself in spite of his environment during the helpless and irresponsible period of childhood. No man, not even a par-ent, has any right to deprive any child of this inalienable right. This right is vouchsafed as a constitutional right to every child in North Carolina by the following clauses of our State Constitution: "The people have the right to the privilege of education, and it is the duty of the State to guard and maintain that right." Article I, section 27. "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall for-ever be encouraged." Article IX, section 1. "Every person presenting himself for registration (to vote) shall be able to read and write any section of the Constitution in English langauge" (which went into effect December 1, 1908). Article VI, section 4. The right of the State to intervene and protect the child is his right and to protect itself, society, and humanity against the ignorance of the child is recognized and clearly set forth in the following clause in the State Consti-tution "The General Assembly is hereby empowered to enact that every child of sufficient mental and physical ability shall attend the public schools during the period between the ages of six and eighteen years for a term of not less than sixteen months, unless educated by other means." Article IX, section 15. Not only has the child a natural and constitutional right to have the chance to develop through education the powers that God has given him, and thereby make the most of himself, and, therefore, to have the law intervene, if neces-sary, to secure this right to him, but the taxpayer, also, has a right to de-mand the intervention of the Government that compels him to pay his taxes for the support of the schools, to secure to him the protection that he pays for against the ignorance of the child. The Government has the right to intervene, if necessary, to protect itself, society, liberty, and property against the dangers to all to be found in ignorance, according to the experience of mankind and the evidence of all human history. If it has the right to tax its citizens for protection, it has the right to adopt the necessary means to insure, as far as possible, that protection. If the State or the community has the right to correct and punish crime and vice, so often resulting from ignorance and illiteracy, it ought to have the right to take the necessary steps to remove the cause. Prevention is cheaper and better always than correction and punishment. Compulsory attendance laws are the only means found effective by other States and other countries of the world for overcoming illiteracy or largely reducing it. Practically all important foreign countries, except the ignorant countries of Russia, Spain, and Turkey, have found it necessary to adopt com-pulsory attendance laws in order to overcome illiteracy, and have found them effective in overcoming it. Forty-three of the forty-eight States of the Ameri-can Union have been compelled to resort to the same means of overcoming it, and are finding the means effective. Illiteracy is least in the States and coun-tries that have compulsory attendance laws, and greatest in those that have ^t*>^-- Kexly High School, Johnston County. Erected in 1914 at a cost of S17,000. Cauy High School, Wake County. In connection with this school is a Farm-Life Department. Erected in 191 1 at a cost of $32,500. The total school plant, including dormitories, farm, and apparatus is worth S4I),1)00. WoKK TO BE Done and How to Do It 41 not. No State or country in modern times, so far as I have been able to ascertain, has ever repealed a compulsory attendance law after it was once enacted. If such laws have been found beneficial and effective in all these great States and countries, will they prove otherwise for North Carolina? One of the most striking illustrations of the effectiveness of compulsory at-tendance laws in reducing illiteracy is that of France. In 1882 a compulsory education act went into effect. At that time 31 per cent of the French people were illiterate; in 1900, the illiteracy had been reduced to 6 per cent, only one-fifth of what it was eighteen years before. As bearing upon the question of effectiveness of compulsory attendance laws in reducing or overcoming illiteracy, the following tables of comparative illiteracy in typical Southern States that have no compulsory attendance laws and typical New England and Western States that have such laws will be interesting and suggestive : Table A.. Native White Illiterates Over Ten Years of Age. Per Gent. Virginia 81,105 8.2 North Carolina 131,992 12.3 South Carolina 50,112 10.5 Georgia 79,875 8.0 Mississippi 28,344 5.3 Rhode Island 944 0.7 Connecticut 1,707 0.5 Michigan 9,561 1.0 Table B. Native White Illiterates of Voting Age. Per Cent. Virginia 33,488 9.9 North Carolina 49,619 14.1 South Carolina 17,535 11.0 Georgia 29,936 8.9 Mississippi 11,129 6.1 Rhode Island 466 1.0 Connecticut 893 0.7 Michigan 5,254 1.6 The tide of emigration has evidently flowed from illiterate to literate; from ignorance to intelligence; from darkness to light. To sum up, in view of the fact that only 77 per cent of the total school population of the State, 79 per cent of the white and 67.8 per cent of the colored, is ever enrolled in the public schools, and only about 55 per cent of the white school population and about 47 per cent of the colored is in daily attendance; in view of the large number of illiterates, white and colored, and of the large number of children of school age on the straight road to illiteracy in North Carolina, can any honest citizen doubt the need of the intervention of the strong arm of the law through compulsory attendance to overcome such conditions? In view of the constitutional provisions guaranteeing to every child the privilege of education and imposing upon the State the duty to pro-vide it and encourage the means for it, and of the constitutional amendment recently adopted prescribing an educational qualification for suffrage and citi- 42 "VYoKK TO BE Done and How to Do It zenship;in view of the divine right of every child to make the most possible of himself in spite of any sort of environment in childliood, for which he can in no sense be held responsible, can any citizen fail to recognize the consti-tutional and the natural right of every child to have guaranteed to him the opportunity to get an education and the duty of the law to intervene to pre-vent any man from depriving any child of his natural and constitutional right? In view of the fundamental fact established by the experience of mankind that in universal education is to be found the best protection to life, liberty, and property, and that, therefore, it is right and wise for the Government to tax every citizen to provide the means of universal education, and thereby secure protection to himself and to every other citizen; in view of the further fact that every citizen taxed for this purpose has the right to demand from the Government compelling him to pay the tax the protection that he has paid for against the ignorance of every child, can any reasonable man doubt the right and the duty of the State and the community to compel the child to use the means of protection provided, and to intervene to prevent the parent from preventing the child from using them? In view of the further fact that compulsory attendance laws are the only means found effective in all other States and in all foreign countries for reducing and overcoming illiteracy, is not any reasonable man forced to the conclusion that North Carolina will be compelled to resort to the same means in order to bring all of her children into the schools provided for them and thus reduce illiteracy and secure to every child his right, to the Government its safety, and to the taxpayer the protection that he pays for? I have brought forward from my previous biennial reports, this argument for compulsory attendance in North Carolina, for the information, conven-ience, and assistance of those who believe in it, and are seeking to enforce it and to convert otirers to it, and for the enlightenment and possible con-version of honest opponents and skeptics on the subject. The General As-sembly of 1913 wisely enacted a State-wide compulsory attendance law for North Carolina, an explanation and discussion of which will be found in the first part of this report. During the first year of the operation of this compulsory attendance law, the attendance upon the public schools of the State was increased 11.6 per cent. This increase in attendance was, of course, mainly attributable to the compul-sory attendance law. The reports show that in a number of counties where the law was properly enforced, from 90 to 98 per cent of all the children be-tween the ages of eight and twelve—the compulsory period prescribed by the law—were enrolled in the public schools. When it is remembered that the pub-lic school age in this State is from six to twenty-one years, that the compulsory attendance period is from eight to twelve, and that the increase in attendance was necessarily mainly from the children of the compulsory attendance age, and that this increase was sufficient to increase the attendance of children of all ages upon the public schools of the State 11.6 per cent, it will be apparent that a very large per cent of the children between the ages of eight and twelve must have attended the public schools. The results of the operation of the compulsory attendance law for the first year have been very encouraging. The task before us, now, however, for the elimination of non-adult illiteracy in the present and the prevention of illiteracy in the future, is to raise gradually the age limits of the com-pulsory period, to increa.se the annual length of the period until it shall at WoKK TO bp: Done and How to Do It 43 least cover the entire school term of the public school district, and to strengthen the machinery for its enforcement. All of these things we hope to accomplish as rapidly as public sentiment and available funds will justify. In the meantime, we must continue persistently to work for their accomplish-ment and for providing the means through which they shall be accomplished. Adu'it IllUeiacy and lis Elimination.—The census of 1910 shows that, with the exception of Louisiana and New Mexico, North Carolina has the largest percentage of native born white illiterates in the United States, ranking forty-sixth in this particular. By reaching this generation of children as they pass through the public schools, our compulsory attend-ance laws, properly amended from time to time and properly enforced, ought to eliminate illiteracy in the next generation of adults. In the meantime, this vast army of adult illiterates already beyond the reach of the schools and all compulsory attendance laws, must be reached, if reached at all, during this generation, by means outside of the public schools. The honor of the State and our manifest duty to these adult illiterates — our fellow-citizens—demand that we shall find and put into successful execu-tion at once, some effective means for reaching them immediately, for reduc-ing rapidly, and finally eliminating adult illiteracy in North Carolina. By strong resolutions, the State Association of County Superintendents, the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly, the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and the North Carolina Educational and Cooperative Union have pledged themselves to cooperate actively in the movement for the elimi-nation of adult illiteracy. I have no doubt of the hearty cooperation of the churches, the women's clubs, and all social service organizations of all sorts, in this movement. It is my purpose to call, also, upon the college students of North Carolina to volunteer their services dur-ing the vacation in cooperation with the teachers, under the direction of the county superintendent and educational forces of the respective counties of the State, to teach these adult illiterates in moonlight schools to read and write. By a properly organized and wisely directed movement for this purpose in every community in North Carolina having any considerable number of adult illiterates, we ought to be able to eliminate adult Illiteracy within the next few years. I give below an address
Object Description
Description
Title | Biennial report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of North Carolina to Governor..., for the scholastic years... |
Other Title | Biennial report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of North Carolina to Governor, summaries and recommendations |
Creator | North Carolina. Department of Public Instruction. |
Date | 1912; 1913; 1914 |
Place | North Carolina, United States |
Description | Part 1 of 3 |
Publisher | Raleigh :Dept. of Public Instruction,1907- |
Agency-Current |
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction |
Rights | State Document see http://digital.ncdcr.gov/u?/p249901coll22,63754 |
Physical Characteristics | v. :ill., ports., maps (part fold.) ;23-25 cm. |
Collection |
North Carolina State Documents Collection. State Library of North Carolina |
Type | Text |
Language | English |
Format | Reports |
Digital Characteristics-A | 86 p.; 5.11 MB |
Digital Collection |
Ensuring Democracy through Digital Access, a North Carolina LSTA-funded grant project North Carolina Digital State Documents Collection |
Digital Format | application/pdf |
Audience | All |
Pres File Name-M | pubs_biennialreportof19121914nort.pdf |
Pres Local File Path-M | \Preservation_content\StatePubs\pubs_edp\images_master\ |
Full Text | aJa X H s aa S O BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION OF yyitA ^omfilimentA oJ /fJ^T"^ ^'ufienintetnlent S % o g a r. b o Two Years' Pkogress 17 equipment and an annual maintenance fund equal to the amount received from the State to avail itself of the State appropriation not to exceed a maxi-mum of $2,500.00 for instruction in agriculture, sewing, cooking, household economics and other farm life subjects in connection with one or more of its rural high schools, nine new farm life schools have been established this year, making a total of 15 such schools in 12 counties of the State. No part of the annual maintenance fund for these schools or of the funds for their necessary equipment is allowed to be taken out of the regular school funds and to shorten the regular public school term until those funds are sufficient to pro-vide a minimum of six months. The significant and hopeful fact about their establishment through the cooperation and sacrifice of the people of the communities in which they are located is the evidence that it furnishes of intense interest in the education of country boys and girls for country life and of the faith of the country people in a sort of education and school that can and will provide better preparation for more profitable, more comfortable, more healthful, more joyous and more contented living in the country. The farmers, individually and through their various organizations, have lined up enthusiastically behind this movement. All the rural uplift forces of the State and county, educational, agricultural, public health, have actively cooperated in the movement. Five of these schools have been in successful operation now for two years or more, and their results more than justify the wisdom and the expense of their establishment and maintenance. In cooperation with the A. & M. College arrangements have been completed for supervision and aid in the direction of the vocational and extension work of these schools by trained specialist in these subjects who will, after this year, be connected with the State Depart-ment of Public Instruction also as supervisor of these schools and of this sort of work in other public schools, devoting such time to that work as may be necessary. As will be seen from the reports of Mr. Brogden and Mr. Newbold found elsewhere in this report, a number of consolidated rural schools with three or more teachers are also doing some excellent work in instruction and prac-tical training in farm life subjects without State aid under the direction of the county superintendents and the rural school supervisors. I regard the establishment of these schools and the remarkable increase in the number of them in one year through the efforts and demands of the coun-try people themselves as perhaps the most significant, practical and far-reaching single forward step of this biennial period and perhaps of the decade. In my opinion, it marks the beginning of a new era in rural education and in the adaptation of the work of the rural schools to the life and needs of the country people that is destined to result in increased effi-ciency of the rural population and in a re-direction and a re-organization of rural life and a revolution of rural conditions within one or two generations. Community Service Week.—One of the most hopeful, successful and stimu-lating movements for rtiral uplift was the inauguaration and observance of Community Service Week in 1914. Three days, December 3rd, 4th and 5th, were set apart by proclamation of Governor Craig as Community Service Days. Thursday was designated as "Public Roads, Grounds and Building Day" for voluntary work by men, women and children of each town, township or school district for needed improvement in one or all of these. Friday was Part 1—2 18 Two Years' Pbogkess designated as "School and Neighborhood Improvement Day" for a gathering of all the people with the children at every schoolhouse in town or country for a discussion of the conditions and needs of the community, and for making plans and appointing committees for the execution of those plans, for improving the schools, highways, social life, economic, moral and health con-ditions of the community. Saturday was designated as "County Progress Day" for a general county gathering at the county seat to discuss the needs and possibilities of the county and to make plans and inaugurate movements for its progress and development. Under the direction of a committee on Community Service Week, consisting -of the following: Clarence Poe, Chairman; W. C. Crosby, Secretary; J. Y. Joyner, W. A. Graham, E. K. Graham, J. I. Foust, H. Q. Alexander, D H. Hill, W. S. Rankin. T. B. Parker, and W. J. Shuford, cooperating with the follow-ing: The State Department of Education, The State Department of Agri-culture and Dr. Louis R. Wilson, a carefully prepared bulletin, containing programs for each day, full, valuable, detailed suggestions for its successful observance and for plans and committees, county and community, for the permanent direction of the work, statistical information about each county, suggested sources of information, stories of successful community and county service work accomplished in various counties and communities in the State, ^tc, was prepared. Dr. Louis R. Wilson, Librarian of the State University, Tendered invaluable assistance as editor of the bulletin. This bulletin was printed and distributed by the State Department of Public Instruction. With aid of an appropriation of $500 by the State Department of Agriculture sup-plemented with a smaller appropriation by the State Farmers' Union, Mr. W. 'C. Crosby was engaged as secretary, devoting his entire time for about ninety 'days, in cooperation with the committee through the State Department of Education and the indispensable assistance of county superintendent and teachers of each county, to the organization and direction of this work in the various counties and to the distribution of the literature relating to it. With-out his able assistance during these three months, it would have been im-possible for the State Department of Education to have conducted this work successfully. In addition to the bulletin, blanks for rural surveys, covering educational, economic, social, moral and sanitary conditions and needs of each community and county, were distributed. Many of these surveys were made and formed the basis for discussions and plans for county and community im-provement. The response to the appeal for the celebration of Community Ser-vice Week- and for community service by the public press, by the county su-perintendents and the teachers, by county boards of education and school com-mitteemen, by farm demonstration agents, by the county and local farmers' unions, by social service organizations of various sorts and by the people gen-erally, was hearty, encouraging and, in many instances, enthusiastic. Not-withstanding the unfortunately inclement weather on each of the three days the reports received in this office indicate that the days were observed most successfully and profitably in a large number of counties and communi-ties. A summary of these reports, giving fuller information about the results of these community service meetings, will be made and given to the public later. Even at this writing, however, enough is known from the reports al-ready received to warrant the prediction that Community Service Week will be generally observed next year and will become one of the most effective, per- Two Years' Progress 19 manent agencies for intelligent, cooperative work for rural and urban com-munity improvement in North Carolina. Practical histruction in Public Health and Hygiene.—With the valuable assistance and cooperation of the State Board of Health and its efficient and energetic secretary and assistant secretaries, much valuable work has been done in the public schools in increasing interest and giving instruction in public health and hygiene. Bulletins, dealing in a concise, simple, and practical way with the simple hygienic laws affecting the everyday life of the child and the people, have been prepared under the direction of the Secretary of the State Board of Health, and printed and distributed to teachers of the State by the State Department of Public Instruction. A list of these bulletins will be found under Educational Literature. Directions have been given to the teachers, through the county superin-tendents, to make use of these bulletins for the systematic instruction of the children of their schools in public health and hygiene, and to give to the entire school at least three brief health talks a week, the information for which, progressively and logically arranged, has been furnished them in the Health Talks Bulletins. Another one of these bulletins, enlarging some-what on the first ideas, is now in the course of preparation. This health and hygiene work is a long step forward toward the improve-ment of sanitary conditions and public health in the rural districts. County superintendents and public school teachers have responded intelligently and enthusiastically to the call for it. Emphasis was laid upon this work in the county teachers' institutes and special attention is being given to it in the county teachers' associations. By addresses and talks to the teachers and to the general public, the secretary and assistant secretary to the State Board of Health and the physicians of the State generally are aiding greatly in this campaign for the instruction of the children and the people of the State in public health and hygiene and in the cultivation of public sentiment therefor. It is impossible to calculate how much can be done, through simple instruction, line upon line, precept upon precept, for the rising generation in the public schools for the preven-tion and eradication of typhoid fever, tuberculosis, hookworm disease, scarlet fever, smallpox, diphtheria, and other preventable diseases that constitute the chief scourges of our population. The sentiment is rapidly growing and the demand rapidly increasing that such instruction shall be made an essential and organic part of our educational work. Campaign for Education.—The campaign for education, by bulletins, through the press, and by public addresses, has been carried on without cessation. The State Superintendent has used all the time that he could spare from his work in the office for field work and educational campaign work. In this work he has also been assisted by the State Agents for Rural Schools and the State Inspector of Public High Schools and other members of his educational staff. Through the continuance of the generous aid of the Southern Education Board, in providing funds for the payment of their expenses, strong speakers, who generously contributed their services, have been sent to communities asking for the agitation of the question of local taxation and the consolida-tion of schools, and to communities in which elections on the question of local taxation for public schools were pending. Among these speakers have been representative teachers, editors, lawyers, preachers, business men, public officials, and others. It is regretted that this Educational Campaign Fund 20 Two Yeaks' Progress will not hereafter be available, on account of the dissolution of the Southern Education Board after the death of Mr. Robert C. Ogden, its chairman and great benefactor. In many counties, of course, enthusiastic and consecrated county superin-tendents have carried on almost continuously effective campaigns for public education and school improvement, by personal work, public addresses, circu-lar letters, newspaper articles, etc. In this work many of them have been assisted by consecrated teachers and public spirited citizens of all classes and vocations. After all, the most effective part of this campaign is that carried on from year's end to year's end, without blare of trumpets, in the county, under the direction of an efficient county superintendent of common sense and consecration. Woman's Association for the Betterment of Public Schoolhouses and Grounds.—Marked progress has been made. Many new county associations have been organized. Through the unselfish work of the patriotic women of the State, county and local associations, thousands of dollars have been raised for the improvement of schoolhouses and grounds, and much valuable volun-tary service that can not be measured in dollars and cents has been rendered in making the schoolrooms and school grounds more beautiful and attractive, and in cultivating public sentiment and public interest for the betterment of the public schools. Many county superintendents, public school teachers, county boards of education, and school committeemen have given their hearty cooperation to the women in this work. County Commencements.—Another significant and distinctive forward step in the educational progress of the period has been the increased number of county commencements held and the increased interest and improvement in these events. In 1914, successful county commencements were held in forty-one counties in which about seventy-five thousand school children par-ticipated in parades, contests, school exhibits, school fairs and other events and about twenty-five hundred children received certificates after examination for the completion of the work of the seven elementary grades. These commencements have come to be, perhaps, the most effective educa-tional rallies and the most popular public gatherings in the counties in which they have been held. They have proved one of the most effective agencies for the stimulation of county pride, school spirit, community emula-tion, for the cultivation of public sentiment for public education and for the encouragement of children to remain in the public schools for the com-pletion of the elementary grades and to enter the rural high schools and the farm life schools. A bulletin on the county commencements, containing accounts of some of them, typical programs and valuable suggestions for their organization and successful conduction, has been issued from the State Department of Public Instruction, and a copy of the same can be obtained from any county superintendent. Important Educational Legislation.—The General Assembly of 1913 passed much very far reaching and important educational legislation and did much towards establishing means of increasing the efficiency of the public school system of the State: The State Equalizing Fund.—The State equalizing fund was created con-sisting of the revenue derived by setting aside annually five cents of the total annual State tax levy on each one hundred dollars valuation of property for appropriation to the public schools of this State to be used exclusively Two Years' Progress 21 for the payment of teachers' salaries, for lengthening the school term, and for bringing the school term in every public school district to an equal length and to a minimum of six months or as near thereto as the equal-izing fund will provide. The one hundred and twenty-five thousand dol-lar appropriation and the one hundred thousand dollar appropriation were repealed by this act and in lieu thereof two hundred and fifty thousand dol-lars was appropriated to be distributed to the public schools on a! per capita basis annually.. In the appropriation of the State equalizing fund the law specifies that no account shall be taken of local tax funds in the distribution of the money. In order to participate in this fund a county must, first, provide with its own funds sufficient money to run its schools eighty days and is required, if necessary, to levy a special tax not exceeding fifteen cents on the hundred dollar valuation of property and forty-five cents on each poll. Counties having complied with this requirement or having levied the maximum amount, are then apportioned funds to pay the salaries of their teachers for as long a term as this fund will provide. After levying the maximum rate of tax to provide a four months' term counties that still do not have sufficient funds for providing the term required are entitled by the act to receive aid from this fund on the same" basis as the counties providing the full four months' term. Compulsory Attendance.—All children between the ages of eight and tv/elve years are required to attend school for a term of four continuous months each year. Provision is made by the act for the exemption of pupils attend-ing approved private schools and for pupils prevented from attending school for providential reasons. Parents are required to send their children to school, and it is made a misdemeanor by the act for any parent or guardian to withhold a child from school subject to the provisions of the act. Attend-ance officers whose duties it is to enforce the law are appointed by the county board of education. Teachers are required to make weekly reports to the attendance officers of all absences and are required to cooperate in the enforcement of the law. The county board of education is given power to make such rules and regulations as they deem best to secure the attendance of the children to whicli the law applies. Child Labor Law.—No child under twelve years of age can be employed to work in any factory or manufacturing establishment in the State except in an apprenticeship capacity and then only after having attended school for four months in the preceding twelve. No person under sixteen years of age can be employed in a mill, factory, or manufacturing establishment be-tween the hours of 9 p. m. and 6 a. m. Violation of these provisions is made a misdemeanor, and the county superintendent is required to investigate. County Farm Life School Law.—The Guilford County Farm Life School Law was amended so as to apply to any county of the State complying with the provisions thereof. Under this act any county may receive from the State an appropriation not to exceed $2,500 for one or more of the rural high schools in the county when a like amount is provided by county appor-tionment, local taxation or otherwise, and the school or schools have com-plied with the other requirements specified, for instruction and extension work in sewing, cooking, household economics, agriculture and other farm-life subjects. 22 Two Yeaes' Pkogeess Women on School Boards.—The act specified tliat positions on rural and graded school boards, etc., shall not be deemed offices in this State, and women are therefore made eligible to serve in these places except where the person holding such position or place is elected by the people. County Unit of Apportionment.—Section 4116 of the Revisal was so amended as to make the county, instead of the township, the unit of apportionment of school funds and also gives the county board of education the authority, after a six months' school term has been provided, to pay not exceeding one-half the salary of a whole-time health officer for the county. Authority to Acquire School Sites. Section 4131 was amended so as to give the board of trustees and committee of chartered graded schools the same authority with respect to acquiring school sites under their direction that is vested in the county board of education. Counties May Unite in Employing Superintendents.—Section 4135 was amended so as to allow any county having a school fund not exceeding $15,000 to unite with an adjoining county in employing a county superin-tendent jointly for his full time. Appointm,ent of School Committeemen.—Section 4145 was amended so as to require the county boards of education to appoint school committeemen as follows: one for a term of three years; one for a term of two years; and one for a term of one year, and their successors each for a term of three years. Election of Teachers.—Section 4161 was amended so as to require all applications for positions to teach in a county to be filed with the county superintendent of public instruction and that the county board of education shall fix a day in each township for the election of teachers, at which time the committeemen of the various districts shall meet with the superintendent and elect teachers for all the schools of the township. It also provides that no election of any teacher shall be deemed valid until approved by the county superintendent. Loans for Dormitories.—Section 4153 was amended so as to allow a part of the loan fund to be used for the purpose of erecting dormitories for rural public high schools and farm life schools. Justices of the Peace Must Report to County Boards.—Section 410S was amended so as to require justices of the peace to report to the county board of education fines, forfeitures and penalties imposed in their courts. City Treasurers Must Report—Section 4158 was so amended as to require treasurers of city school funds to report to the State Superintendent. Must Provide for Payment of Teachers' Salaries.—Section 4164 was amended so as to authorize and require county boards of education to provide for the payment of teachers' salaries promptly at the end of each month. Members of County Board.—Section 4119 was amended so as to provide that members of the county board of education appointed by other members to fill unexpired terms shall serve only until the Legislature meets and acts. Assistant Teachers.—Section 4153 was amended so as to provid.e that no assistant teacher shall be employed in any one-teacher school until the average daily attendance is forty and that such assistant may be dismissed if average daily attendance for four consecutive weeks is less than forty. Public High Schools.—Section 1 of the public high school law was Two Years' Progress 23 amended so as to require every high school receiving State aid to maintain a term of at least seven months. Section 2 was amended so as to make the graded school committee the high school committee where the graded school received State aid for its high school. Qualifications of County Superintendent.—Section 4135 of the Revisal was amended so that the two years' experience required of a county superin-tendent must come within the five years immediately preceding his election. Educational Literature.—During the two years the following new educa-tional literature has been prepared, published and sent out from the Superin-tendent's office: Program of North Carolina Day, 1913, 56 pages. Community Service Week in North Carolina, 86 pages. Plans for Public Schoolhouses, revised and enlarged, 76 pages. Hand Book for High School Teachers, 1914, 92 pages. Public School Law, 1913. 143 pages. Public School Law, 1914. 83 pages. Directory of School Officials, 1913. 45 pages. Directory of School Officials, 1914. 45 pages. Teachers' Reading Circle, 1913. 12 pages. Teachers' Reading Circle, 1914. 12 pages. Fifth Annual Report of Inspector of High Schools, 1912. 60 pages. Sixth Annual Report of Inspector of High Schools, 1913. 59 pa^es. Proceedings and Addresses of the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly, 1913. 257 pages. Proceedings and Addresses of the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly, 1914. 266 pages. Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1910-1912. 469 pages. Daily Schedule of Work for Teachers' Institutes, 1914. 22 pages. How to Teach Reading and Civics, 1913. Ill pages. Song Collection for Teachers' Institute, 1913. 54 pages. Song Collection for Teachers' Institute, 1914. 57 pages. School Exhibits, 1913. 4 pages. Public School Register, 1913 and 1914. 48 pages. Record Book for Attendance Officer. 24 pages. Outline Course of Study for Elementary Public Schools, 1914. 154 pages. The County Commencement, 1914. 74 pages. Opening Exercises, 1914. 24 pages. Civic Days, 1913. 46 pages. In addition to these a supply of the most valuable bulletins heretofore pub-lished and reported has been kept on hand and will continue to be kept on hand for distribution. Besides the foregoing, blanks covering every phase of school organization and work have been sent out. These have aided all school officials in keeping their records and making accurate reports of the work done. A new and improved system of accounting has been introduced throughout the State to aid in keeping record of school funds. A new system of statistical records of the county superintendents has been provided dur-ing this biennial period. The efforts along this line have aided greatly in the gradation of rural schools, which means a great saving of time to the chil-dren who attend these schools by enabling them to do more consistent and con-secutive work. RECOMMENDATIONS. By the enactment of the law setting aside annually five cents of the State levy on every one hundred dollars of property as a "State Equalizing Fund" to lengthen the public school term, resulting the first year in an addition of 23.3 days, and by the passage of the compulsory attendance law, resulting the first year in an increase of about 12 per cent in pubic school attendance, the General Asembly of 1913 took a long and most commendable step in the direction of supplying two of the most pressing fundamental needs of the pub-lic schools, longer terms and better attendance. This progressive legisation in these directions, however, but emphasized the necessity of legislation by the General Assembly of 1915 for increased efficiency in teaching and supervision to guarantee better returns for increased expenditures and justify compulsory attendance. Profoundly convinced that efficient teaching and efficient supervision are the most pressing needs of our public schools at this time, are strategic points in the success and future progress of the public school system, and are, therefore, the most important subjects for conservatively progressive legislation by this General Assembly, I have confined my recommendations mainly to these two subjects. What we need most to do now is to enforce, strengthen and develop what we have. This we can best do by strengthening and protecting the teachers and superintendents, the directors and the executives of this great business of education. In the interest of increased efficiency in teaching and supervision, I beg, therefore, to make the following recommendations: I. Uniform Examination, Gradation, and Certification of Teacliers. Increased expenditures for schools and longer school terms ought to mean increased salaries for teachers, increased efficiency of teachers, and a higher standard of qualifications for the profession of teaching. People have a right to expect and to demand better teachers and better teaching when they pay more money. The work of the teacher must be elevated to the plane of a profession and must be given the protection guaranteed to other professions and even to callings that are not professions before there can be much inducement to men and women of character and ability to adopt it as a life work and equip themselves professionally for it. The raising therefore of the standard of qualifications for a license to teach, and the establishment of a uniform and impartial standard is absolutely necessary for the protection of teachers, the protection of the public, and the estabishment of any real profes-sion of teaching. Under the present method of examination, gradation and certification of teachers, no certificate, except a High School certificate and a five-year first grade State certificate issued by the State Board of Examiners under the High School Law, is valid in any county except the county in which it is issued, un-less the county superintendent of any other county sees fit to approve and en-dorse it. No first grade certificate is valid for more than two years, and no second grade certificate for more than one. Each of the one hundred county 26 Kecommendations superintendents, can, if he cliooses to exercise his autliority, establish practi-cally his own standard of examination, gradation and certification of teachers, and each succeeding county superintendent in each of the one hundred counties, can, at his discretion, change the standard. In justice to the teach-ers and for their encouragement and stimulation to better preparation, schol-astic and professional, and to the permanent pursuit of the profession of teaching, some, uniform and equitable plan should be devised as recommended herein for giving proper credits for academic and professional work done, and for successful experience and length of service, for relief from repeated exami-nations, and for life license. I urgently recommend, therefore, the enactment of a law providing for uni-form examination, gradation and certification of teachers, urban and rural, by a State board of examiners, composed of representative superintendents of schools, urban and rural, and of representative teachers of primary schools, grammar schools, high schools and colleges. After investigation of the meth-ods of examining and certificating teachers in many other States, I beg to suggest the following outline of this plan (a) That examination and gradation of all applicants shall be made by the State Board of Examiners to establish a uniform standard of academic qualifications, and that said board shall certify to the applicant and to the superintendent of schools the grade and class of certificate to which said ap-plicant is entitled. (6) That the County Superintendent shall issue a certificate of the kind designated to each successful applicant of his county, if, in his judgment, the personality of such applicant and his general qualifications other than schol-arship fit him for the work of teaching. That in case of refusal of the County Superintendent to issue such certificate the applicant shall have the right to appeal from his action to the County Board of Education of said county for review and investigation of the causes of such refusal, and for the final determination of the matter. (c) Certificates so issued shall be valid without further examination in any county of the State when approved by the Superintendent of Public In-struction of said county, but shall not be valid to teach in town or city schools until approved also by the superintendent of said schools, and upon the refusal of the city or town superintendent to approve said certificate the holder there-of shall have the right to appeal to the Board of School Trustees of said town or city for review, investigation and final determination of the matter. (fZ) That superintendents in cities and towns of 5,000 or more inhabitants may conduct the examination of applicants for schools under their super-vision, subject to such rules and regulations as the State Board of Examiners may prescribe, and may issue to successful applicants the required certificates under the provisions of this Act. (e) 'J hat said Board of Examiners shall arrange and adopt a plan for the classification of certificates and for the promotion of teachers from one class to another, and for life license, that shall encourage and reward by a reason-able increase in salary, successful experience, professional training and ad-vanced scholastic attainment, and that shall provide for proper credits for academic work in certain subjects in standard high schools,, normal schools and colleges. (/) That a graded system of fees by applicants for examination be ar- Kecommendations 27 ranged to meet the expenses of the State Board of Examiners, said fees to be paid into the State Treasury. (f;) The refusal of one county or city superintendent or county or city Board of Education to issue a certificate to any applicant certified by the State Board of Examiners shall not operate to prevent said applicant from ap-plying for a certificate to any other county or city superintendent. (h) That there shall be a fixed minimum professional and scholarship re-quirement in advance of present requirements for teachers of each class or grade after a fixed future date. (i) That there shall be required the same minimum qualification in schol-arship and experience for county and city superintendents after a fixed future date as may be required for a first grade elementary teacher's certificate. II. Coiiuty Superiision. In every county the county superintendent is necessarily the business and professional head and director of the county school system. No big business can be permanently successful without a competent head devoting his entire time and ability to the organization and direction of the business in all of its departments. 'J'he education of thousands of children through scores of schools and teachers in each county is the biggest and most important busi-ness in that county. The business has been growing bigger and more impor-tant in every county every year. The expenditures for it by State, county, and district taxation have been rapidly increasing every year until in 1914 they were in the State five times what they were in 1902. The business has grown most rapidly and its success along all lines has been greatest in those counties that have employed competent whole-time superintendents at a living salary and have given these superintendents adequate assistance where needed. Increased expenditures, increased attendance, increased teaching force, lengthened school terms, demonstrated successful results in counties that have tried it as set forth elsewhere in my biennial report, seem to me to make the conclusion irresistible that the time has come for the employment of a com-petent whole-time county superintendent at a living salary in every county, and, in the larger counties for the employment of such additional assistance, clerical and professional, at the expense of the county as eflacient administra-tion and supervision of the work may demand. I, therefore, recommend for more efficient supervision: (a) That the law be so amended as to require the county Board of Educa-tion of each county to employ for his entire time a competent superintendent, who shall be required to give his entire time to the direction of the educational work of the county and the visitation and supervision of the schools while in session and who shall be forbidden to engage in any other profession or regular business while superintendent. (b) That county boards of education in the larger and wealthier counties be specifically authorized to employ such additional clerical and profes-sional assistance for the county superintendent as may be deemed nec-essary for the greater efficiency of the work; provided, however, that each county shall provide the additional expense necessary for such assistance out of its special levy, or its regular county school funds, and that no part of the same shall come directly or indirectly from the State Equalizing Fund. It is, of course, apparent that the additional expense necessary for the em-ployment of a whole-time superintendent in counties employing only part-time 28 Recommendations superintendents now, will be provided by the special levy for necessary expenses for a four-months term, or out of the "State Equalizing Fund" in counties in which such a levy is unnecessary. As the State, therefore, bears directly or indirectly this additional expense for whole-time county superin-dents, as the school term in the county will not be shortened thereby, as the smaller and weaker counties, because of their lack of them heretofore, need them worse now, I can conceive of no valid objection to providing whole-time county superintendents for these counties as well as for larger and stronger counties, practically all of which now have them at State expense. Nor can 1 see any reasonable objection to authorizing specifically any county to provide at its own expense additional assistance for its superintendent, if it is able to do so and needs it. III. IVon-itartisan County Boards of Ediieation. .As stated in my recommendations two years ago, it is, in my opinion, wise and just that wherever well qualified men can be found in the minority party, representation should be given to both of the leading political parties upon County Boards of Education. Since the schools are maintained by the taxes of all the people, patronized by the children of all the people, irrespective of their political views, and need for their success the hearty support and inter-est of all the people, they should therefore be removed as far as possible from partisan politics, and directed by a board as non-partisan as is consistent with the constitutional requirement for a uniform system of education and with the responsibility of the majority political party of the State for the successful administration of that system in every county of the State. The method of selecting County Boards of Education should be made uniform. By special legislation six counties now elect their County Boards of Education. Section 2 of Article IX of the Constitution of North Carolina requires a uniform sys-ter of public schools." IV. ImproTeiiieut and Enlargement of Laws for the Protection of Childliood and Womanhood. For the protection of childhood and womanhood, the foundation upon which our whole civilization rests, I urgently recommended improving and enlarging the present laws regulating the labor of children and women in the factories and the extension, and the extension of these laws to include all companies, corporations and individuals employing children and women. I recommend also the establishment of an efficient system of State inspection for the en-forcement of such laws. I refrain from specific recommendations at this time awaiting the recommendations of the North Carolina Child Labor Com-mittee, the Conference for Social Service, and other organizations that are making a special study of this subject, and I shall heartily cooperate with such organizations in recommending and securing the enactment and en-forcement of any reasonable laws for the better protection of childhood and womanhood. V. Endorsement of Other Reeonuitendations. I concur in the recommendations of Superintendent of the Colored Normal Schools for the small sorely needed increase in the annual appropriation for the maintenance and equipment of these schools; in the recommendations of Recommendations 21) the State High School Inspector for the small increase in the annual appro-priation absolutely necessary for their development and the increasing need-- incident to the their rapid growth and in the recommendations of the StatP Agent and Supervisor of Negro Rural Schools for the establishment of train-ing schools and the encouragement of industrial training in the negro schools. I beg to call your careful attention to these recommendations in their reports printed elsewhere in this report. VI. Jforiiial Training' Courses in the Piil)lic Hisrh Schools. I concur heartily in the recommendation of the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly for the addition of Normal Training Courses of study in the first class public high schools as an effective means of placing within reach of the rank and file of the rural school teachers at small expense, some professional preparation for more efficient teaching. I hope that the General Assembly may be able to make a special appropriation for this work. VII. Minor Amendments to the Public School Law. I deem it unnecessary to recommend specifically here some minor amend-ments to the public school law which will be submitted to the General Assem-bly in an omnibus bill through the committees on education. Resolutions of the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly and the State Farm-ers' Union. I beg to submit below the recommendations and resolutions of the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly and the State Farmers' Union relating to educa-tion adopted unanimously at their annual meetings in 1914: Resolutions of the Xortli Carolina Teachers' Asseniblj'. The Committee on Resolutions beg to make the following report and offer the following resolutions for adoption by the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly : First. That we heartily recommend the addition of normal training to the course of study offered in our public high schools, and request the Legisla-tive Committee to urge the next Legislature to provide by law for this addi-tion to the course of study in these high schools, as the most effective means for securing an adequate number of trained teachers for our elementary schools. Second. That we very earnestly and heartilj^ endorse the recommendation of the State Department of Education with reference to a system of uniform examination and certification of teachers of the public schools of the State and request the Legislative Committee of the North Carolina Teachers' As-sembly to present this matter with our endorsement to the next General Assembly of North Carolina. J. I. FOUST. I. C. GRIFFIN. J. H. HIGHSMITH. MISS FRANCES WOMBLE. MISS DAPHNE CARRAWAY. 30 Recommendations Recommendations and Resolutions of tiie North Carolina Farmers Educa-tional and Co-opeiatiie Union, Greenville, 1914. The Committee on Education desires to offer the following report: 1. We congratulate the State Union and its faithful and powerful allies (the State Department of Education a,nd our State institutions of learning) on the success achieved in changing the trend of sentiment in our system of public educa,tion from the purely academic to the practical. 2. In our opinion, the time has come in North Carolina when the people have a right to expect and to demand better teachers and better teaching as they annually put more and more money into the work, and since it is prac-tically impossible to secure this without raising the standard of the profes-sion, we recommend that the General Assembly of the State be asked to enact a law providing for the uniform examination, gradation, and certifica-tion of teachers. 3. We favor the amendment of our compulsory school attendance law so as to apply to the children from the ages of eight to fourteen years, inclusive. 4. In order to stimulate reading—and the right kind of reading—among the members of our local Unions, we recommend that our State Union give five hundred dollars annually for the purpose of helping local Unions throughout the State to establish and supplement libraries, confined largely to books on country-life problems; that from this fund five dollars be given to each local in the State which furnishes ten dollars for this purpose; that this sum be given each year to the first one hundred locals making application, and that our State President appoint a Library Comrriittee of three members to select books and prescribe necessary regulations governing the same. 5. We deplore the fact that in a great many communities in the State the less intelligent farmers object to the teaching of agriculture and domestic science in the nublic schools, often criticising teachers of these subjects in the presence of their children, thus lessening the influence of the teacher, not only in the work of teaching these subjects, but also in the whole work of the school. We would urge, therefore, that the locals in such communities use their influence to have these fundamental subjects taught as required by the law which was enacted at the request of the farmers of the State. 6. We wish most heartily to commend the State Department of Education and also the State University, the A. & M. College, the Normal and Industrial College, the Cullowhee Normal and Industrial School, the East Carolina Teachers Training School, and the Appalachian Training School, for the splendid work they have done and are doing in the practical forms of educa-tion which are prime factors in community building. Fraternally submitted, W. C. CROSBY, Chairman. T. C. HENDERSON, Sec'y. J. E. TURLINGTON. C. C. WRIGHT. T. S. COBLE. W. R. JULIAN. E. L. FRANK. WORK TO BE DOME AND HOW TO DO IT. Notwithstanding the encouraging progress along all former lines and the encouraging beginning along new lines of educational work during the past two years, as revealed by the official reports, the work to be done and the ways and means of doing it have not been materially changed since my preceding report. As I discussed most of these subjects somewhat fully and to the best of my ability in that report, basing my discussion and suggestions on the most careful study of our educational conditions that I have been able to make, I have deemed it wise to bring forward, with some changes and addi-tions, parts of my previous biennial report. This is the work to be done, as I see it; these are the ways and means of doing it, as I see them. I can do no better than to cry aloud and spare not until the General Assembly and the people hear and heed the suggestions or in their wisdom find and adopt some better ways of doing this needed work. TJioroughness in Essentials.—The foundation of all education is, of course, a mastery of the rudiments of knowledge—the elementary branches of read-ing, writing, arithmetic, and spelling. A knowledge of these and the training and development which comes from the effort necessary for the acquisition of such knowledge are absolutely essential for every human being. It is folly to talk about higher education or special training along any line for any useful sphere of life or work until the children have secured at least this much instruction. According to the United States Census of 1910 12.3 per cent of the white population and 31 per cent of the colored population over ten years of age in North Carolina could not read and write. While I have no doubt that we have reduced this per cent of illiteracy during the past four years, it is still painfully true that there is yet a large number of illiterates among us and a larger number of children on the straight road to illiteracy. A large majority of our country schools are still one-teacher schools. The average length of our white rural school term is still only 116 days. Our chief attention should, therefore, be given to doing thoroughly this founda-tion work and making adequate provision for it. If the foundation be not well laid first, the entire educational structure must fall to pieces. The law now wisely forbids the teaching of any high school subjects in any school having only one teacher. It requires, however, the teachiiTg of thirteen subjects in these one-teacher schools. It is absolutely impossible for one teacher, with as many children as are to be found in the average rural school in seven grades, to do thorough work in so many subjects. It seems to me that the number of required subjects should be reduced, that the teacher in every one-teacher school should be required to devote more time—in fact, most of the time—to teaching thoroughly these fundamental essentials in reading, writing, arithmetic and spelling. It is folly to attempt the impossible. In my opinion, at least the first four years of the elementary school with only one teacher should be devoted almost exclusively to these four subjects, sand-wiching in just enough of geography, mainly in the form of nature study, talks on everyday hygiene, etc., to give a little variety to the course and to furnish some foundation for a little more extensive work in these and kindred subjects later. 32 Work to be Done and How to Do It There is more educational value, more acquisition of power and of correct intellectual habits in a thorough mastery of a few subjects than in a super-ficial knowledge, a mere smattering, of many. The one lays the foundation for real culture; the other lays the foundation for nothing better than veneer-ing. I am satisfied that there is great need for a substantial reform along this line in the required course of study in our elementary schools. The sensible teachers in the one-teacher schools are not attempting to teach this multiplicity of required subjects, and those who are attempting to teach all of these are failing to teach any as they should be taught. The law ought not to require a vain and foolish thing. Public High Schools.—Every child has the right to have the chance to de-velop to the fullest every faculty that God has endowed him with. It is to the highest interest of the State to place within the reach of every child this chance. By the evidence of the experience of all civilized lands of the past and the present, the study of the higher branches is necessary for the fullest development of these faculties. Unless provided in the public schools, in-struction in these can not be placed within reach of nine-tenths of the chil-dren of North Carolina. If the great masses of our people are to be limited in their education to the elementary branches only, we can not hope for any material improvement in their intelligence and power and any material in-crease in their earning capacity. This State cannot expect to compete suc-cessfully with those States that have provided such instruction in their public schools for the highest and fullest development of all the powers of all their people. "The old idea that instruction in the public schools must be confined to the rudimentary branches only, or the three R's, as they were called, was born of the old false notion that the public schools were a public charity. This notion put a badge of poverty upon the public school system that was for many years the chief obstacle to the progress and development of public edu-cation in North Carolina. The notion still lingers in the minds of the few that at heart do not believe in the power and rights of the many. It has no place in a real democracy. It must give place to that truer idea, accepted now in all progressive States and lands, that public education is the highest govern-mental function—in fact the chief concern of a good government. This was the conception of our wise old forefathers when they declared in their Constitu-tion that 'Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good govern-ment and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged,' and when they wrote into their Bill of Rights, 'The people have a right to the privilege of education, and it is the duty of the State to guard and maintain that right.' "No man in this age will dare maintain that instruction in the mere rudi-ments of learning can be called an education or that the people have been given the right to an education when instruction in these branches only has been placed within their reach. Under this broader democratic conception of public education and its function the obligation of the Government to the poorest is as binding as its obligation to the richest. The right of the poorest to the opportunity of the fullest development is as inalienable as the right of the richest. Good government and the happiness of mankind are as depend-ent upon the development of the fullest powers of the poorest as upon the development of the fullest powers of the richest. Where the Creator has hid-den the greatest powers no man can know till all have been given the fullest Work to be Done and How to Do It 33 opportunity to develop all that is in them. Every taxpayer, rich or poor, has an equal right to have an equal chance for the fullest development of his children in a pubic school with the fullest course of instruction that the State in the discharge of its governmental function is able to provide. "Public high schools constitute a part of every modern, progressive system of public education. If our system of public schools is to take rank with the modern, progressive systems of other States and other lands, to meet the modern demands for education and supply to rich and poor alike equal edu-cational opportunity, instruction in these higher branches, whereby prepa-ration for college or for life may be placed within the easy reach of all, must find a fixed and definite plan in the system." Under the act of the General Assembly appropriating $75,000 from the State Treasury to aid in the establishment of public high schools, 212 public high schools in 96 counties of the State have been established, and applica-tions for the establishment of many others have had to be refused each year on account of the insufficiency of the appropriation. A report of these schools by Prof. N. W. Walker, State Inspector of Public High Schools, is published elsewhere in this report. I commend it to your careful attention. Under the law and the rules adopted by the State Board of Education, not more than four of these schools can be established in any one county. No public high school can be established except in connection with a public school having at least two other teachers in the elementary and intermediate grades, and the entire time of at least one teacher must be devoted to the high school grades. No public high school can be established in a town of more than twelve hundred inhabitants. Each district in which a public high school is established is required to duplicate by special taxation or subscription the amount apportioned to the school from the State appropriation; each county is required to apportion to each public high school out of the county fund an amount equal to that appor-tioned to it out of the State appropriation. The minimum sum that can be ap-portioned annually from the State appropriation for the establishment and maintenance of any public high school is $250 and the maximum sum $500. The total sum annually available for any public high school established under this act ranges, therefore, from $750 to $1,500. The high school funds can be used only for the payment of salaries of the high school teachers and the necessary incidental expenses of the high school grades. No teacher can be employed to teach or can draw salary for teaching any subjects in any public high school who does not hold a high school teacher's certificate covering at least all subjects taught by said teacher in said public high school, issued by the State Board of Examiners, of which the State Superintendent is ex officio chairman. The course of study is prescribed by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. As indicative of the need and demand for these schools, I beg to call your attention to the fact that there have been applications for many more such schools than could be established with the appropriation, and that the number of such applications would have been greatly increased had it not been under-stood that the appropriation was already exhausted. As a further striking indication of the need for them, of the desire among the masses of the country people for higher instruction, and of their willingness and determination to avail themselves of the opportunities placed within their reach for such in-struction, I beg to call your attention to these significant facts, taken from Part 1—3 B4 WoKK TO BE Done and How to Do It the official reports of these schools, all of which are in country districts or small towns of less than twelve hundred people: 8,316 country boys and girls were enrolled in the high school grades of these schools during the seventh year, and of these 6,307 were in average daily attndance. Do not the large enrollment and the remarkable average daily attendance of more than 73 per cent of the enrollment in these high schools indicate almost a pathetic eagerness of the country boys and girls for high school in-struction, and a commendable willingness on the part of their parents to make the sacrifices necessary to give their children a chance to avail them-selves of the opportunities to get it? Is it not more than probable that per-haps nine-tenths of all these boys and girls enrolled in all the grades of these high schools would never have had an opportunity for any higher instruction or better preparation through higher instruction for service and citizenship had not these public high schools been established within their reach and means? The State and county can not afford to ignore this demand and need. An adequate system of public high schools will be found to be a part of every modern system of public education in all progressive cities and States in the country and in the most progressive and prosperous countries of the world. It is a need and demand of the age. By no other means than by the public high school can high school instruction be placed within the reach of the children of the many. By no other means than by the rural public high school can it be placed within the reach of the great majority of the country boys and girls. The private high school cannot meet this demand, because the tuition and other necessary charges for its maintenance place it beyond the means of the majority of the country boys and girls, and because the number of country parents who are able to bear these necessary expenses of instruction in private high schools for their children is far too small to maintain enough of these private high schools to be within reasonable reach of more than a very small minority of the country boys and girls. No one church is able to support enough of these high schools to place high school instruction within reasonable reach or within the financial ability of more than a mere handful of boys and girls in the rural districts. The church high school could hardly hope for the patronage of more than the children of the families accepting its tenets or inclined to its doctrines. For a complete system of high schools, therefore, that would reach all the children, it would seem to be necessary for each denomination to maintain a system of high schools in every county and to have as many systems of high schools in each county as there are denominations in that county. The im-practicability and expensiveness of meeting adequately the demand for high school instruction among the masses of the people, especially in the rural districts, by private high schools or by church high schools must be apparent, therefore, to any thoughtful student of rural conditions. The task of placing high school instruction within reasonable reach of all the children of all the people, irrespective of creed or condition, is too great and too complicated, it seems to me, ever to be successfully performed by church, private enterprise or philanthropy. If performed at all, it seems to me, it must be by all the people supporting by uniform taxation a system of public high schools of sufficient number to be within the reasonable reach of all the children of every county and community, with doors wide open Work to be Done and How to Do It 35 to the children of the poor and the children of the rich, irrespective of creed or condition, affording equality of educational opportunity to all the children of a republic, of which equality of opportunity is a basic principle. The church high school and the private high school will still find a place and an important work in our educational system, but they can never take the place or do the work of the public high school for the masses of the people. There will always be those among us who will prefer the church or private high school, and who will be able to indulge this preference, but the main dependence of the many for higher education must still be the public high school, suported by the taxes of all the people, belonging to all the people, within reach of all the people. God speed the work of the church and the private high school in this common battle against ignorance and illiteracy. There is work enough for all to do; but surely in a republic like ours, one of the cardinal principles of which is and must ever be the greatest good to the greatest number, friends of the church high school and of the private high school will never undertake to say that all the people must get out of the way of a few of the people, and that the many public high schools, supported by all the people for the benefit of all the children, must get out of the way for a few private and church high schools that can at best hope to reach but a few of the children of tlie people. Future Development of Public High Schools.—There are now from one to four public high schools in each of the 96 counties of the State. There are, therefore, four counties in which no public high schools have yet been estab-lished. For the proper maintenance and development of these high schools more money will, of course, be required. It is our hope to be able to select the best high school in each county, taking into consideration the location, the accessibility, the environment, etc., and develop this into a real first-class county high school, doing thorough high school work for four full years and some vocational work in agriculture, sew-ing and cooking and other rural life subjects. Around this school should be built a dormitory and a teachers' home. The dormitory, properly conducted, would afford and opportunity for the boys and girls from all parts of the county to board at actual cost. Many of these could return to their homes Friday evening, coming back Mcnoay morning. Many of them who do not have the money to spare to pay their board would probably be able to bring such provisions as are raised on the farm and have them credited on their board at the market price. A small room rent could be charged each student. The principal's home would make it possible to secure a better principal and keep him probably for years, thereby giving more permanency to the school and more continuity to the work, making a citizen of the teacher and enabling him and his family to become potent factors in the permanent life of the com-munity, contributing no small part to uplifting it, morally and intellectually, by their influence. It is my hope to be able to secure the development of a number of these central county high schools in the most favorable counties, equipped with dor-mitories and teachers' homes, and demonstrate the practibility, success and the value of them. Having done this, it will be easy to secure their establish-ment and development in other counties. We should gradually develop in every county of the State at least one first-class county high school with dormitory and teacher's home. Then the other high schools in different sec-tions of the county should be correlated with this central school, and the 36 WoKK TO BE Done and How to Do It course of study in these should be limited probably to not more than two years of high school work, requiring all students desiring to pursue the last two years of the four-years course to attend the central county high school, which will be fully equipped in all respects for thorough high school work. The central county high schools, as they grow and develop, should become also the nuclei for successful industrial and agricultural training. Parallel courses of study for the last two years might be arranged, one course offering thorough preparation for college of the small number of students desiring such preparation and the other offering practical industrial and agri-cultural training for the large number whose education will end with the high school. The dormitory would afford a splendid equipment for practice work for the girls in cooking, domestic science, household economics, etc.; while the boys, during the last two years, could have training in agricultural sub-jects that will fit them for more intelligent and profitable farming. The prac-tical side of this work could be supplied by acquiring by purchase or lease a small farm in connection with the high school. All this development must, of course, be a gradual and and perhaps a some-what slow growth. It is best that it should be. We must be content with the day of small things. We can not far outrun the desire, demand, and ability of the people. Our schools must have their roots in the life and needs of the people and grow out of these. They must not be lifted at once so high above these that their roots can not not touch them and that the people will be un-able to reach up to them. They must connect with the life and conditions as they now are, and grow upward slowly, changing these gradually and lifting them upward with them as they grow The best colleges of the State are raising their entrance requirements with a gradual elevation of their courses of study to standard colleges, thereby em-phasizing the necessity for the development of more high schools prepared to give a full four years course of high school instruction, in order to prepare students at home for entering these higher institutions. The demand for vocational work in agriculture, sewing, cooking, household economics and other rural life subjects for preparation of country boys and girls at home for country life is increasing, and becoming more insistent every year, thereby also emphasizing the necessity for the establishment and maintenance of more rural high schools with a full four years course of study including instruction in these rural life subjects. If these demands are to be met, there must be an increase in the State, county, and district appropria-tions for the establishment and maintenance of more of these central rural high schools, prepared in faculty and material equipment, to give a full four years course of study for preparation for college and for vocational prepara-tion for country life. Industrial and Agricultural Education.—"Every complete educational sys-tem must make provision also for that training in the school which will give fitness for the more skillful performance of the multitudinous tasks of the practical work of the world, the pursuit of which is the inevitable lot of the many, for that training which will connect the life and instruction of the school more closely with the life that they must lead, which will better pre-pare them for usefulness and happiness in the varied spheres in which they must move. All these spheres are necessary to the well being of a complex life Work to be Done and How to Do It 37 like ours. The Creator, who has ordained all spheres of useful action, has not endowed all with the same faculties or fitted all for the same sphere of action. " 'We are all but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body Na,ture is, and God the soul!" "Every wise system of education, therefore, must, beyond a certain point of educational development, recognize natural differences of endowment and fol-low to some extent the lines of natural adaption and tastes, thus cooperating with Nature and God. The education that turns a life into unnatural chan-nels and into the pursuit of the unattainable fills that life with discontent and dooms it to inevitable failure and tragedy. In recognition of these established laws of Nature and life, manual training and industrial education are begin-ning to find a fixed and permanent place in systems of modern education. They have already been given a place in some of the higher institutions of our public school system—in the A. and M. College for the white race at Ra-leigh, in the State Normal and Industrial College for women at Greensboro, in the A. and M. College for the colored race at Greensboro, and in our county farm life schools. Under the new supervision industrial training is empha-sized in the State Colored Normal Schools at Winston, Fayetteville, and Eliza-beth City. Some of the city graded schools, notably those of Durham, Ashe-ville, Wilmington, Winston, Greensboro, Charlotte, and Raleigh, have intro duced manual training and industrial education. "This sort of education, however, must come as a growth, a development of a general school system that provides first for the intellectual mastery of those branches that are recognized as essential for intelligent citizenship and workmanship everywhere. It must be remembered that the first essential difference between skilled labor and unskilled labor is a difference of intelli-gence as well as of special training; that a skilled farmer must be first of all a thinking man on the farm; a skilled mechanic, a thinking man in the shop; that a skilled hand is but a hand with brains put into it and finding ex-pression through it; that without brains put into it a man's hand is no more than a monkey's paw ; that without brains applied to it a man's labor is on the same dead level with the labor of the dull horse and the plodding ox; that a man with a trained hand and nothing more is a mere machine, a mere hand. The end of education is first to make a man, not a machine. "It will be well to remember, also, that industrial education is the most ex-pensive sort of education, on account of the equipment necessary for it and the character of the teachers required for it. Teachers prepared for success-ful instruction in this sort of education must, of course, be in some sense specialists in their line, and always command good salaries. For the majority of the public schools of the State, therefore, with one-room schoolhouses with-out special equipment and with one teacher without special training, with the present meager salary, and barely money enough for a five months term and for instruction in the common school branches, with more daily recitations already than can be successfully conducted, industrial educa-tion and technical training are at present impracticable. "A study of the history of this sort of education will show that it has come as a later development, after ample provision had been made for thorough in-struction in the lower and in the higher branches of study, in those schools that were provided with school funds sufficient for instruction in the ordi-nary school studies, for the expensive equipment and for the teachers trained 38 Work to be Done and How to Do It especially for industrial and technical education. In fact, I think it will be found that such education has been provided first in towns and cities and great centers of wealth and population or in institutions generously supported by large State appropriations or by large endowments. To undertake such edu-cation in the ordinary rural schools of the State in their present condition, with their present equipment and with the meagre funds available for them, would result in burlesque and failure, and would, in my opinion, set back for a generation or two this important work." We can and should, however, continue to give in all our public schools, elementary instruction in agriculture, and to encourage nature study in these schools. An admirable little text-book on agriculture has been adopted for use in the public schools, and in the course of study sent out nature study has been provided for every grade. In a number of counties, with the aid of the county superintendents and their assistants in rural school supervision, many public schools with three or more teachers have been organized by consolidation and enlargement of small districts. In these schools without interference with thorough instruction in the required elementary school subjects, some efficient instruction is being successfully undertaken in sevving, cooking, gardening, agriculture, and other subjects adapted to country life. We must reduce to a necessary minimum, as rapidly as possible, the one-teacher schools, and multiply as rapidly as possible the number of schools with three or more teachers. If we expect to place more thorough instruction in the prescribed elementary branches and any sort of efficient industrial and agricultural education within close reach of the majority of the country children. I beg to call special attention to the fuller reports of the work of the elementary rural schools of this type and to the encouraging results thereof, contained in the reports of the State Agents in Rural Supervision published elsewhere in this report. I beg to call attention, also, to the discussion of these subjects contained in the address of the State Superintendent to the State Association of County Superintendents published elsewhere in this report. The longest and most successful step in the direction of efficient industrial and agricultural education for preparation of country boys and girls for country life yet taken, is the establishment of the county farm-life schools, a fuller discussion of which will be found in the first part of this report. Illiteracy and Nonattendance and How to Overcome The^n—Compulsory Attendance.—With 131,992 native white illiterates over ten years of age, or 12.3 per cent, according to the United States Census of 1910; with only 79 per cent of the white children between the ages of six and twenty-one enrolled in the public schools and only 55 per cent of them in reguar daily attendance; with about 115,000 white children between these ages unenrolled in the public schools; with North Carolina still standing in the United States Census of 1910 near the last in the column of white illiteracy, the urgent need of finding and enforcing some means of changing as rapidly as possible these appalling conditions must be apparent to every thoughtful, patriotic son of the State. Two means suggest themselves: (1) Attraction and persuasion. (2) Com-pulsory attendance. Attraction and Persuasion.—"Much has been done, much more can be done, to increase attendance through the attractive power of better houses and grounds, better teachers, and longer terms. An attractive schoolhouse and a good teacher in every district, making a school commanding by its work Work to be Done and How to Do It 39 public confidence, respect and pride, would do much to overcome nonattend-ance. The attractive power of improved schools and equipment to increase attendance is clearly demonstrated by the statistics of this Report, which show with few exceptions, the largest per cent of attendance in consolidated districts, rural special tax districts and entire counties that have the largest school fund, the longest school terms, and the best schools. "The general rule seems to be, then, that attendance is in direct proportion to the efficiency of the schools and the school system. I have already called your attention to the fact that with the improvement in the public school-house and schools, and the increased educational interest during the past few years, has come also an increase in the per cent of enrollment and at-tendance in the public schools. "Much can also be done to increase the attendance upon the public schools by earnest teachers, who will go into the homes of indifferent or selfish parents whose children are not in school, and by persuasive argument and tact and appeals to parental pride induce many of these parents to send their children; who will seek out children in homes of poverty, and remove, through quiet, blessed charity, the causes of their detention from school. From the census and from the report of the preceding teacher recorded in the school register each teacher can ascertain at the beginning of the session the names of all illiterates and non-attendants of school age in the district and report-ed cause of non-attendance. Under the rules recommended by the State Superintendent and adopted by many county boards of education the teacher is required to spend two days immediately preceding the opening of the school in visiting the parents and making special efforts to get these children to at-tend school. I have no doubt that many of these can be and will be reached by these efforts. Much can be done, also, by active, efficient school committee-men and other school officers who will take an interest in the school and aid the teachers in finding and bringing in the children. "The compelling power of public opinion will do much to bring children into the school. Logically, as public sentiment for education increases, public sentiment against nonattendance will increase. Public opinion might, in many communities, be brought to the point of rendering it almost disgrace-ful for parents to keep children at home without excellent excuse during the session of the schools. Self-respecting parents would be loath to defy such a public opinion and run the risk of forfeiting the esteem of the best people of the community. "It is the tragic truth, however, that there are some parents so blinded by ignorance to the value and importance of education, and others so lazy, thrift-less or selfish that they can not be reached by the power of attraction and persuasion, or the mild compulsion of public opinion." It is the sad truth that those, whose children most need the benefits offered by the public schools are hardly to be reached by any other means but compulsion. Compulsory Attendance.—The tendency of illiteracy is to perpetuate itself. The majority of illiterate children are the children of illiterates and perhaps the descendants of illiterates. It is natural that ignorance and illiteracy, being incapable of understanding or appreciating the value and the necessity of education, should' be indifferent and apathetic toward it—just as natural as it is for the children of darkness to love darkness rather than light. The inter-vention of the strong arm of the law is the only effective means of saving the children of illiterates from the curse of illiteracy. The intervention of 40 Work to be Done and How to Do It the strong arm of the law is, in my opinion, the only hope of saving, also, the children of literate, and sometimes intelligent, parents from the careless-ness, indifference, incompetency, laziness, thriftlessness or selfishness of such parents. No child is responsible for coming into the world, nor for his environment when he comes. Every child has a right to have a chance to develop the power to make the most possible of himself in spite of his environment during the helpless and irresponsible period of childhood. No man, not even a par-ent, has any right to deprive any child of this inalienable right. This right is vouchsafed as a constitutional right to every child in North Carolina by the following clauses of our State Constitution: "The people have the right to the privilege of education, and it is the duty of the State to guard and maintain that right." Article I, section 27. "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall for-ever be encouraged." Article IX, section 1. "Every person presenting himself for registration (to vote) shall be able to read and write any section of the Constitution in English langauge" (which went into effect December 1, 1908). Article VI, section 4. The right of the State to intervene and protect the child is his right and to protect itself, society, and humanity against the ignorance of the child is recognized and clearly set forth in the following clause in the State Consti-tution "The General Assembly is hereby empowered to enact that every child of sufficient mental and physical ability shall attend the public schools during the period between the ages of six and eighteen years for a term of not less than sixteen months, unless educated by other means." Article IX, section 15. Not only has the child a natural and constitutional right to have the chance to develop through education the powers that God has given him, and thereby make the most of himself, and, therefore, to have the law intervene, if neces-sary, to secure this right to him, but the taxpayer, also, has a right to de-mand the intervention of the Government that compels him to pay his taxes for the support of the schools, to secure to him the protection that he pays for against the ignorance of the child. The Government has the right to intervene, if necessary, to protect itself, society, liberty, and property against the dangers to all to be found in ignorance, according to the experience of mankind and the evidence of all human history. If it has the right to tax its citizens for protection, it has the right to adopt the necessary means to insure, as far as possible, that protection. If the State or the community has the right to correct and punish crime and vice, so often resulting from ignorance and illiteracy, it ought to have the right to take the necessary steps to remove the cause. Prevention is cheaper and better always than correction and punishment. Compulsory attendance laws are the only means found effective by other States and other countries of the world for overcoming illiteracy or largely reducing it. Practically all important foreign countries, except the ignorant countries of Russia, Spain, and Turkey, have found it necessary to adopt com-pulsory attendance laws in order to overcome illiteracy, and have found them effective in overcoming it. Forty-three of the forty-eight States of the Ameri-can Union have been compelled to resort to the same means of overcoming it, and are finding the means effective. Illiteracy is least in the States and coun-tries that have compulsory attendance laws, and greatest in those that have ^t*>^-- Kexly High School, Johnston County. Erected in 1914 at a cost of S17,000. Cauy High School, Wake County. In connection with this school is a Farm-Life Department. Erected in 191 1 at a cost of $32,500. The total school plant, including dormitories, farm, and apparatus is worth S4I),1)00. WoKK TO BE Done and How to Do It 41 not. No State or country in modern times, so far as I have been able to ascertain, has ever repealed a compulsory attendance law after it was once enacted. If such laws have been found beneficial and effective in all these great States and countries, will they prove otherwise for North Carolina? One of the most striking illustrations of the effectiveness of compulsory at-tendance laws in reducing illiteracy is that of France. In 1882 a compulsory education act went into effect. At that time 31 per cent of the French people were illiterate; in 1900, the illiteracy had been reduced to 6 per cent, only one-fifth of what it was eighteen years before. As bearing upon the question of effectiveness of compulsory attendance laws in reducing or overcoming illiteracy, the following tables of comparative illiteracy in typical Southern States that have no compulsory attendance laws and typical New England and Western States that have such laws will be interesting and suggestive : Table A.. Native White Illiterates Over Ten Years of Age. Per Gent. Virginia 81,105 8.2 North Carolina 131,992 12.3 South Carolina 50,112 10.5 Georgia 79,875 8.0 Mississippi 28,344 5.3 Rhode Island 944 0.7 Connecticut 1,707 0.5 Michigan 9,561 1.0 Table B. Native White Illiterates of Voting Age. Per Cent. Virginia 33,488 9.9 North Carolina 49,619 14.1 South Carolina 17,535 11.0 Georgia 29,936 8.9 Mississippi 11,129 6.1 Rhode Island 466 1.0 Connecticut 893 0.7 Michigan 5,254 1.6 The tide of emigration has evidently flowed from illiterate to literate; from ignorance to intelligence; from darkness to light. To sum up, in view of the fact that only 77 per cent of the total school population of the State, 79 per cent of the white and 67.8 per cent of the colored, is ever enrolled in the public schools, and only about 55 per cent of the white school population and about 47 per cent of the colored is in daily attendance; in view of the large number of illiterates, white and colored, and of the large number of children of school age on the straight road to illiteracy in North Carolina, can any honest citizen doubt the need of the intervention of the strong arm of the law through compulsory attendance to overcome such conditions? In view of the constitutional provisions guaranteeing to every child the privilege of education and imposing upon the State the duty to pro-vide it and encourage the means for it, and of the constitutional amendment recently adopted prescribing an educational qualification for suffrage and citi- 42 "VYoKK TO BE Done and How to Do It zenship;in view of the divine right of every child to make the most possible of himself in spite of any sort of environment in childliood, for which he can in no sense be held responsible, can any citizen fail to recognize the consti-tutional and the natural right of every child to have guaranteed to him the opportunity to get an education and the duty of the law to intervene to pre-vent any man from depriving any child of his natural and constitutional right? In view of the fundamental fact established by the experience of mankind that in universal education is to be found the best protection to life, liberty, and property, and that, therefore, it is right and wise for the Government to tax every citizen to provide the means of universal education, and thereby secure protection to himself and to every other citizen; in view of the further fact that every citizen taxed for this purpose has the right to demand from the Government compelling him to pay the tax the protection that he has paid for against the ignorance of every child, can any reasonable man doubt the right and the duty of the State and the community to compel the child to use the means of protection provided, and to intervene to prevent the parent from preventing the child from using them? In view of the further fact that compulsory attendance laws are the only means found effective in all other States and in all foreign countries for reducing and overcoming illiteracy, is not any reasonable man forced to the conclusion that North Carolina will be compelled to resort to the same means in order to bring all of her children into the schools provided for them and thus reduce illiteracy and secure to every child his right, to the Government its safety, and to the taxpayer the protection that he pays for? I have brought forward from my previous biennial reports, this argument for compulsory attendance in North Carolina, for the information, conven-ience, and assistance of those who believe in it, and are seeking to enforce it and to convert otirers to it, and for the enlightenment and possible con-version of honest opponents and skeptics on the subject. The General As-sembly of 1913 wisely enacted a State-wide compulsory attendance law for North Carolina, an explanation and discussion of which will be found in the first part of this report. During the first year of the operation of this compulsory attendance law, the attendance upon the public schools of the State was increased 11.6 per cent. This increase in attendance was, of course, mainly attributable to the compul-sory attendance law. The reports show that in a number of counties where the law was properly enforced, from 90 to 98 per cent of all the children be-tween the ages of eight and twelve—the compulsory period prescribed by the law—were enrolled in the public schools. When it is remembered that the pub-lic school age in this State is from six to twenty-one years, that the compulsory attendance period is from eight to twelve, and that the increase in attendance was necessarily mainly from the children of the compulsory attendance age, and that this increase was sufficient to increase the attendance of children of all ages upon the public schools of the State 11.6 per cent, it will be apparent that a very large per cent of the children between the ages of eight and twelve must have attended the public schools. The results of the operation of the compulsory attendance law for the first year have been very encouraging. The task before us, now, however, for the elimination of non-adult illiteracy in the present and the prevention of illiteracy in the future, is to raise gradually the age limits of the com-pulsory period, to increa.se the annual length of the period until it shall at WoKK TO bp: Done and How to Do It 43 least cover the entire school term of the public school district, and to strengthen the machinery for its enforcement. All of these things we hope to accomplish as rapidly as public sentiment and available funds will justify. In the meantime, we must continue persistently to work for their accomplish-ment and for providing the means through which they shall be accomplished. Adu'it IllUeiacy and lis Elimination.—The census of 1910 shows that, with the exception of Louisiana and New Mexico, North Carolina has the largest percentage of native born white illiterates in the United States, ranking forty-sixth in this particular. By reaching this generation of children as they pass through the public schools, our compulsory attend-ance laws, properly amended from time to time and properly enforced, ought to eliminate illiteracy in the next generation of adults. In the meantime, this vast army of adult illiterates already beyond the reach of the schools and all compulsory attendance laws, must be reached, if reached at all, during this generation, by means outside of the public schools. The honor of the State and our manifest duty to these adult illiterates — our fellow-citizens—demand that we shall find and put into successful execu-tion at once, some effective means for reaching them immediately, for reduc-ing rapidly, and finally eliminating adult illiteracy in North Carolina. By strong resolutions, the State Association of County Superintendents, the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly, the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and the North Carolina Educational and Cooperative Union have pledged themselves to cooperate actively in the movement for the elimi-nation of adult illiteracy. I have no doubt of the hearty cooperation of the churches, the women's clubs, and all social service organizations of all sorts, in this movement. It is my purpose to call, also, upon the college students of North Carolina to volunteer their services dur-ing the vacation in cooperation with the teachers, under the direction of the county superintendent and educational forces of the respective counties of the State, to teach these adult illiterates in moonlight schools to read and write. By a properly organized and wisely directed movement for this purpose in every community in North Carolina having any considerable number of adult illiterates, we ought to be able to eliminate adult Illiteracy within the next few years. I give below an address |